Robert Moor, Zak Jones, and Misha Solomon are among the winners of the 2026 Writers’ Trust Awards.

The winners of the organization’s annual book prizes, as well as the winners of four awards that honour writers for their body of work, were announced at an event in Toronto on Nov. 10, hosted by poet and artist Moez Surani.

Moor won the $75,000 Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction for In Trees: An Exploration published by Simon & Schuster Canada. The jury, comprised of nonfiction writers Katherine Ashenburg, Debra Thompson, and Joshua
Whitehead, called Moor’s book “an exquisite and deeply erudite meditation on trees, but more importantly on humanity’s relationship with the natural world.” Moor was one of five finalists named in September.

Jones was named the winner of the $70,000 Atwood Gibson Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize for Fancy Gap, published by Hamish Hamilton Canada/Penguin Random House Canada, which explores the lives of three estranged generations of a family living in Appalachia. In their citation, the jury comprised of writers David Chariandy, Conor Kerr, and Kathleen Winter called Fancy Gap “an exceptional, uncanny read.” Jones’s debut novel was one of five books shortlisted for the prize in September.

Poet Misha Solomon was awarded the $12,000 Dayne Ogilvie Prize for LGBTQ2S+ Emerging Writers for My Grandfather Danced Ballet, published by Brick Books. The annual prize, established by Robin Pacific in memory of her friend, editor, and literary manager Dayne Ogilvie, is awarded to an emerging writer who identifies as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or two-spirit for their debut book. Solomon was one of three finalists for this year’s prize. The jury, comprised of authors Francesca Ekwuyasi, Kama La Mackerel, and Michael V. Smith, lauded Solomon’s debut poetry collection for its “extraordinary scope,” noting in their citation that “Solomon writes into the gaps of lineage, testing the space between wish-fulfillment, family lore, and what history can never quite confirm.”

The $25,000 Nancy Flight Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction Editing was awarded for the first time this year. The inaugural winner was Rachel Rose for her work editing Kirsten Johnson’s Humanitarienne: A Doctor’s Stories from the Conflict Zone, published by Douglas & McIntyre. Rose was one of three finalists for the prize.

In addition to the annual book prizes, the Writers’ Trust Awards also include four prizes granted for a writer’s body of work. Margaret Christakos was named the winner of the $60,000 Latner Griffin Writers’ Trust Poetry Prize, which is awarded to a mid-career poet in recognition of a remarkable body of work. In their citation, the jury wrote that Christakos’s “poetry of Earth, and our quiet place in it, champions humility over despair.”

Half Breed author Maria Campbell, credited by the committee as “one of Canada’s most beloved Indigenous authors,” was awarded the $40,000 Matt Cohen Award. The award committee noted in their citation that “Campbell’s work has been critical in breaking trail for Indigenous literature to find its place in the Canadian canon.”

Marrow Thieves author Cherie Dimaline was named the winner of the $40,000 Vicky Metcalf Award for Literature for Young People, awarded to a writer of literature for young people in recognition of a remarkable body of work. In their citation, the jury wrote that Dimaline’s writing “wears its heart on its sleeve and that heart is passionate, angry, risk-taking, raw, and vulnerable.”

Shaena Lambert was named the winner of the $25,000 Writers’ Trust Engel Findley Award, which is awarded annually to a mid-career writer of predominantly fiction. In their citation, the jury wrote that Lambert’s stories and novels “have presciently examined questions that haunt us today: the destructive power of our technologies, the protections we
owe to the earth, and the possibilities — perilous and hopeful — of collective political action.”

The Writers’ Trust also hosted a special presentation of the inaugural Andrew Pyper Prize for Genre Fiction. The $20,000 prize, which honours the legacy of the late Andrew Pyper and is administered by his widow, Heidi Pyper, and a group of writers who knew him, was awarded to Nalo Hopkinson.

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