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“What Cormac McCarthy did for cowboys and horses, Nicholas Herring does for fishermen and boats in his novel Some Hellish,” said the jury. “With a deep knowledge of the Island and a passion for the language of work, Herring’s voice is droll and philosophical, ribald and poetic. The age-old story of humans versus nature finds a fresh cadence as Herring trawls the seas for body and soul. There is a dark beauty within this story, and it will make the reader’s heart sing.”

◢ 2022 Atwood Gibson Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize Jury (David Bergen, Norma Dunning, and Andrew Forbes)

◢ Read more about Nicholas Herring

“The COVID-19 pandemic has been the most disruptive event in world history since the Second World War,” writes the jury. “More than one million people have died, the global economy has been shaken, anti-science populist extremism has become a potent force, and other issues like climate change have been overshadowed by the debate over public health measures. Dan Werb tells us how we got here through an authoritative, scientific explanation of coronaviruses. The Invisible Siege is a scientific detective story that leaves the reader frightened that the villain is still on the loose, and maybe in the house.”

◢ 2022 Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction Jury (Mark Bourrie, Cheryl Foggo, and Jessica McDiarmid)

◢ Read more about Dan Werb

“It is clear from the very first sentences that francesca ekwuyasi’s Butter Honey Pig Bread is an ambitious and assured debut,” the jury wrote. “This work is filled with many pleasures, by turns sensuous and sensual, magical and mystical, but also deadly serious in its exploration of harm and reconciliation. A profound work of love, Butter Honey Pig Bread reminds us that the best novels can hold what cannot be contained.”

◢ 2022 Dayne Ogilvie Prize for LGBTQ2S+ Emerging Writers Jury (Billy-Ray Belcourt, Samra Habib, and Zoey Leigh Peterson)

◢ Read more about francesca ekwuyasi

“Candace Savage is the author of more than 20 books that define and extol the Prairie experience,” wrote the jury. “Her subjects range from individual studies of crows, ravens, grizzly bears, and bees to the disconnecting impact of cultural migration. Savage has been lauded for her works of nonfiction and for her children’s writing, and she was described by The Globe and Mail as ‘an essential Canadian voice.’”

◢ 2022 Matt Cohen Award: In Celebration of a Writing Life Selection Committee (Patsy Aldana, Michelle Good, Wayne Grady, and Olive Senior)

◢ Read more about Candace Savage

“Bottomless wit, an inimitable style, and a strong lacing of social commentary are just some of the elements that impressed the us about Gravel’s extraordinary body of work,” writes the jury. “She brilliantly introduces difficult topics in an accessible and engaging manner, with subversive humour that thrills readers of every age. To crack open a book by Gravel is to embark on an unpredictable and memorable journey with plenty of laughs along the way.” 

◢ 2022 Vicky Metcalf Award for Literature for Young People (Hadley Dyer, Marthe Jocelyn, and Mahtab Narsimhan)

◢ Read more about Elise Gravel

“For three decades, Shani Mootoo has been writing some of this country’s most original and incandescent fiction,” said the jury. “Her novels peel back the layers of emotion experienced by those who resist cultural, racial, and sexual hegemony: people whose identities and upbringings are at perilous odds with their desires. These books are alive, audacious, and full of craft; it’s a body of work that inspires us with all its care and unselfconscious trajectory.”

◢ 2022 Writers’ Trust Engel Findley Award (Carol Bruneau and Sean Michaels)

◢ Read more about Shani Mootoo

“Joseph Dandurand’s oeuvre is a marvel of witness, expressing tough, unflinching truths,” said the jury. “His voice blends the streetwise with the oracular. Dandurand’s instantly relatable poems are deep, deep dives into rhythms that build a history of survival in place, wise to all that’s frail, strong, funny, and hopeful.”

◢ 2022 Latner Writers’ Trust Poetry Prize (Weyman Chan, Luke Hathaway, and January Rogers)

◢ Read more about Joseph Dandurand