Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize

About the Prize

The Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize recognizes Canadian writers of exceptional talent for the year’s best novel or short story collection as selected by a three-member, independent judging panel.

The prize has been sponsored by Rogers Communications Inc. since its inception in 1997. The winner is announced at the Writers’ Trust Awards in Toronto.

2018 Finalists

Land Mammals and Sea Creatures

Catch a reading and panel discussion with the 2018 Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize finalists at the Toronto International Festival of Authors on October 24. The event will be hosted and moderated by books columnist Becky Toyne.

7pm - Wednesday, October 24
Brigantine Room, Harbourfront Centre
235 Queens Quay West, Toronto
Cost: $18, free for students and youth under 25
Purchase Tickets: festivalofauthors.ca

Jury

2018 jurors Ann Y. K. Choi, Mireille Silcoff, and Robert Wiersema read 128 books submitted by 54 publishers.

Jury Statement

"Our jury got a pretty fascinating read on Canada when we received, in three frighteningly giant boxes over six months, nearly one hundred and thirty of the country’s finest works of fiction written in a twelve-month period.

The phenomenal diversity of novels, short story collections, and books that bent the genres to be neither one nor the other, was somewhat expected by our jury of three. Less expected was the definite appearance of a few highly identifiable themes playing on the minds of Canadian writers from all sorts of different backgrounds. Canadian literary juries have joked, in the past, about the preponderance of trees, forests, and woodsy cabins by or in woods, but this year the type of nature written up again and again — wildly, poetically, and often with so much wonder and longing it could take on the feel of dreamscape — was less solid. Canadian writers had water on the brain, an inner life aquatic. There were books about fish, and books about whales, books about life-changing journeys by boat, and roiling seas, and spooky lakes, and ponds filled with water nymphs soaked in seaweed.

Also of note were the number of books about far-flung, closed-off, or somehow intentional communities, a theme that can almost be seen as a response to the aforementioned, oft-stormy waters — a will to protect, a battening of hatches. We were one judge in Montreal, one in Toronto, and one in Victoria, but this year’s shortlist is majority coastal, with three of the five shortlisted authors making their homes on the west coast. Though we worked tirelessly to champion our individual favourite books, ours was not a warring jury but a peaceful one, rife with consensus and admiration, almost from the start. We love the works of fiction we’ve chosen as Canada’s best of the year. We think they are some of the best books in the world now. And we hope you will too."

— 2018 Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize Jury (Ann Y.K. Choi, Mireille Silcoff, Robert Wiersema)

“For me, having recently arrived in the country, reading a spread of contemporary fiction gives me a better insight into the various facets of Canadian culture than any tour guide possibly could.”

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Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize

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Prize

Eligibility Criteria

Important Dates

Ceremony

About the Prize

2018 Finalists

The Saturday Night Ghost Club

Craig Davidson

Knopf Canada

Washington Black

Esi Edugyan

Patrick Crean Editions

Beirut Hellfire Society

Rawi Hage

Knopf Canada

Land Mammals and Sea Creatures

Jen Neale

ECW Press

Dear Evelyn

Kathy Page

Biblioasis

Finalist Reading

Jury

Ann Y. K. Choi

Mireille Silcoff

Robert Wiersema

Jury Statement

Support

Stand with us to ensure Canadian writers continue writing for years to come

Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize

Awarding the best Canadian novel or short story collection of the year

Prize

Eligibility Criteria

Important Dates

Ceremony

About the Prize

2018 Finalists

The Saturday Night Ghost Club

Craig Davidson

Knopf Canada

Washington Black

Esi Edugyan

Patrick Crean Editions

Beirut Hellfire Society

Rawi Hage

Knopf Canada

Land Mammals and Sea Creatures

Jen Neale

ECW Press

Dear Evelyn

Kathy Page

Biblioasis

Finalist Reading

Jury

Ann Y. K. Choi

Mireille Silcoff

Robert Wiersema

Jury Statement

Sponsor

Support

Stand with us to ensure Canadian writers continue writing for years to come

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