Canadian writers, publishers, and readers were among the guests at this year’s 9th annual Writers’ Trust Awards event, held Nov. 24 at the Isabel Bader Theatre in Toronto, celebrating the wide-ranging success of Canada’s literary talents over the past year. The show was hosted by broadcaster, writer, and musician Jian Ghomeshi and included the presentation of six awards and $127,000, making it one of the richest awards nights for literature in the country.

Vancouver writer Annabel Lyon won the $25,000 Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize for The Golden Mean, a novel about Aristotle and his one-time pupil Alexander the Great.

Brian Brett, a writer from Salt Spring Island, won the $25,000 Writers’ Trust Non-Fiction Prize for Trauma Farm: A Rebel History of Rural Life, an account of the author’s small island farm and an impassioned plea for maintaining a connection to the hands-on lessons of rural living.

Three more authors received awards for their excellence in literature: novelist David Bergen received the $25,000 Writers’ Trust Notable Author Award; children’s writer Marthe Jocelyn took home the $20,000 Vicky Metcalf Award for Children’s Literature; and emerging writer Yasuko Thanh earned the $10,000 Writers’ Trust of Canada/McClelland & Stewart Journey Prize. A further award, the Writers’ Trust Award for Distinguished Contribution, was presented to the Politics and the Pen Committee in recognition of their long-time volunteerism.



The Writers’ Trust Awards are made possible through generous support from corporate, foundation, and individual sponsors.