Meet the Finalists for the 2025 Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction

Meet the Finalists for the 2025 Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction

The Writers’ Trust of Canada has unveiled the shortlist for the 2025 edition of the Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction, a yearly celebration of literary nonfiction’s power to illuminate time, place, memory, and identity. This $75,000 prize—one of Canada's most significant in its field—recognizes works that demonstrate both a commanding narrative and a distinctive voice; each finalist receives $5,000.

The selection committee—comprising writers Matthew R. Morris, Lorri Neilsen Glenn, and Niigaan Sinclair—reviewed 101 titles from 62 publishing imprints before settling on the final five.

The Finalists

• One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El Akkad (McClelland & Stewart / Penguin Random House Canada)
  A prescient and urgent exploration of how fear, oppression, and resistance shape societies.
• The Snag: A Mother, A Forest, and Wild Grief by Tessa McWatt (Random House Canada / PRHC)
  A deeply personal meditation on loss, nature, and the redemptive power of storytelling.
• The Migrant Rain Falls in Reverse: A Memoir by Vinh Nguyen (HarperCollins Publishers)
  A poetic family chronicle that travels back through history, memory, and geography.
• Theory of Water: Nishnaabe Maps to the Times Ahead by Leanne Betasamosake Simpson (Alchemy by Knopf Canada / PRHC)
  An experimental text blending Indigenous knowledge, environmental philosophy, and speculative futures.
• A Truce That Is Not Peace by Miriam Toews (Knopf Canada)
  A reflective essay that tenderly charts the emotional landscapes of reconciliation and belonging.

The Hilary Weston Prize has become a can’t-miss marker in Canada’s literary calendar—supporting work that challenges, reimagines, and redefines what nonfiction can do. Since 2023, the prize’s total purse was raised from $60,000 to $75,000, amplifying its reach and signal.

This year’s announcement follows the passing of The Hon. Hilary M. Weston in August 2025, whose longstanding support forever shaped the Writers’ Trust’s mission.

The winner will be revealed at the Writers’ Trust Awards in Toronto on November 13, 2025, capping a season of literary awards and reflection on a richly diverse shortlist. 

David Leonard, executive director of Writers’ Trust of Canada, spoke glowingly about the finalists this year:

“We’re proud to celebrate this tremendous shortlist and 15 years of elevating Canadian, fact-based writing—and to honour the legacy of The Honourable Hilary M. Weston—through this year’s Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Nonfiction Prize,”  “These 2025 finalists showcase the power of Canadian nonfiction to speak urgently to our times, by offering perspectives that confront personal and collective upheaval while also imagining hopeful ways forward.

For more information on this year’s finalists including bios, book descriptions, and complete jury citations, visit writerstrust.com/nonfiction. 

Centre for Equitable Library Access (CELA) will feature the shortlisted titles that are currently available at celalibrary.ca/awards.

Photos of the nominated writers are available to download.

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About the Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction

The Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction is given annually to award excellence in the category of Canadian literary nonfiction, which includes essays, history, biography, memoir, commentary, and criticism. The winning book demonstrates a distinctive voice as well as a persuasive and compelling command of tone, narrative, style, and technique. This award was first sponsored by The Hon. Hilary M. Weston in 2011 and is now funded by The Hilary and Galen Weston Foundation. Past winners include Christina Sharpe for Ordinary Notes, Dan Werb for The Invisible Siege, Tomson Highway for Permanent Astonishment, Rosemary Sullivan for Stalin’s Daughter, Naomi Klein for This Changes Everything, and Martha Baillie for There Is No Blue.

About The Hon. Hilary M. Weston, C.M, C.V.O, O.Ont. 

The Hon. Hilary M. Weston served as the 26th lieutenant-governor of Ontario from 1997 to 2002. In this role, she was committed to shining a spotlight on the contributions of volunteers, women and youth. Her lifelong passion for the arts, education, health research, and volunteerism culminated in recent years with the creation of The Hilary and Galen Weston Foundation. Since 2021, the foundation has committed close to $150 million to innovative charities impacting healthcare, education, women, refugees and the environment in Canada, Ireland and the UK.  

Mrs. Weston served as deputy chair of Holt Renfrew, a director of Brown Thomas & Co. in Ireland, and a director of Selfridges Group based in the U.K. She was a director of the Weston Family Foundation; founding chair of The Mabin School in Toronto; a founding director on the board of the Aga Khan Museum; became a Trustee Emeritus of the Art Gallery of Ontario; and was Founding Patron and Chair Emerita of The King’s Trust Canada. Mrs. Weston also chaired Renaissance ROM, one of largest cultural capital campaigns in Canadian history. Alongside her business and philanthropic endeavours, she co-authored In a Canadian Garden (1989) and At Home in Canada (1995), drawing from her passion for gardens, design, and architecture.

Mrs. Weston was the recipient of numerous honorary degrees and awarded the Order of Canada and the Order of Ontario for her public service and philanthropy.

About Writers’ Trust of Canada

Writers’ Trust of Canada is a charitable organization that advances, nurtures, and celebrates Canadian writers and writing through a portfolio of programs including 11 national literary awards, financial grants, career development initiatives for emerging writers, and a writers’ residency. Writers’ Trust programming is designed to champion excellence in Canadian writing, to improve the status of writers, and to create connections between writers and readers. Canada’s writers receive more financial support from Writers’ Trust than from any other non-governmental organization in the country. Additional information is available at writerstrust.com.