Margaret Atwood arrives on the red carpet for the 2019 Giller Prize before the gala ceremony in Toronto on November 18, 2019. The Writers' Trust of Canada is renaming its annual fiction award after co-founders and literary power couple Margaret Atwood and Graeme Gibson. In a news release Wednesday, organizers announced that the prestigious honour will now be known as the Atwood Gibson Writers' Trust Fiction Prize. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young
January 27, 2021 - 3:32 AM
The Writers' Trust of Canada is renaming its annual fiction award after co-founders and literary power couple Margaret Atwood and Graeme Gibson.
In a news release Wednesday, organizers announced that the prestigious honour will now be known as the Atwood Gibson Writers' Trust Fiction Prize.
The name change comes with a $10,000 increase in prize money, with future winners set to receive $60,000.
Atwood and Gibson, who were partners for more than a half-century until Gibson's death in 2019, were among the wordsmiths who co-founded the Writers' Trust in 1976.
In a statement, playwright and fellow co-founder David Young says the prize is a "perfect" way to honour their commitment to Canada's literary culture.
Since 1997, the Writers' Trust Fiction Prize has been handed out to the author of the year's best novel or short story collection.
Previous winners include Andre Alexis, Emma Donoghue, Lawrence Hill, Alice Munro and Austin Clarke.
The finalists for the 2021 prize will be announced on Sept. 28, and the winner will be named on Nov. 3.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 27, 2021.
News from © The Canadian Press, 2021