Writers' Trust Announces 2024 Bronwen Wallace Award Winners

Tonight, the Writers’ Trust of Canada announced two $10,000 winners for the RBC Bronwen Wallace Award for Emerging Writers, at an award ceremony hosted by Anuja Varghese, winner of the 2023 Dayne Ogilvie Prize.  

The 2024 poetry winner is Faith Paré  for Selections from ‘a fine African head.’

And the 2024 short fiction winner is Nayani Jensen for Like Rabbits.

Congratulations to the winning authors! And to all those who were shortlisted for the award this year.

The prizes, which in recent years removed their prior restriction of being open only to writers under 35 years old, are now open to all writers who are unpublished in book form.

Named after celebrated author and mentor Bronwen Wallace, these prizes are offered in an effort to amplify the voices of emerging authors at a crucial stage in their writing lives. This has often led to national exposure for their work, and to finding publishers for collections of fiction and poetry. 

Finalists all received $2,500 sum for their work, with the winners received $10,000.

The 2024 poetry finalists were selected by Derek Beaulieu, Kama La Mackerel, and Joanna Lilley, who read 215 submissions. And the 2024 short fiction finalists were selected by Jessica Johns, Maria Reva, and Jack Wang, who read 252 submissions.

The full list of shortlisted works can be found here:

Poetry Finalists

◤ Ashleigh A. Allen for “Balcony buffalo”
◤ Faith Paré for “Selections from ‘a fine African head’”
◤ Sneha Subramanian Kanta for “Hiraeth”

Short Fiction Finalists

◥ Henry Heavyshield for Our Rez Anomaly
◥ Nayani Jensen for Like Rabbits
◥ Reid Kerr Keller for ON VENLAFAXINE AND GHOSTS

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About the Award

Bronwen Wallace (1945–1989) was a poet, short story writer, and mentor to many aspiring authors as a creative writing instructor at Queen’s University and St. Lawrence College in Kingston, ON. This prize was established in her honour in 1994 by a group of friends and colleagues. Wallace felt that writers should have more opportunities for recognition early in their careers. This annual award is presented to two writers — one each in the categories of poetry and short fiction — who have been published in literary journals or anthologies but have yet to publish in book form. Past winners include: Michael Crummey, Alissa York, Sonnet L’Abbé, Alison Pick, Noor Naga, Maria Reva, and John Elizabeth Stintzi. 

About Writers’ Trust

The Writers’ Trust of Canada is a charitable organization that seeks to advance, nurture, and celebrate Canadian writers and writing through a portfolio of programs including 12 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.