The Writers’ Trust of Canada has announced its inaugural Rising Stars program. The program will present a $5,000 prize to five early-career authors. The writer will be selected by an established author, who will also provide mentorship to the recipient.

The selected authors are:

Melissa J. Gismondi, non-fiction writer and journalist
Selected by: Charlotte Gray

El Jones, poet and former Halifax poet laureate (2013–2015)
Selected by: Leanne Betasamosake Simpson

Chelene Knight, poet, memoirist, and novelist
Selected by: David Chariandy

Dana Mills, short-story writer and novelist
Selected by: David Adams Richards

Deborah Ostrovsky, creative non-fiction writer
Selected by: Taras Grescoe

The five selected Rising Star writers will also receive two days of career development and networking events and a two-week writing residency at the Banff Centre. The new program is sponsored by five benefactors: Margaret Atwood, Kari Cullen and William Bonnell, Clair Duff, Deb MacLeod and Ward Sellers, and an anonymous donor.