The Danuta Gleed Literary Award was created as a celebration of the life of Danuta Gleed, a writer whose short fiction won several awards before her death in 1996. Danuta Gleed’s first collection of short fiction, One of the Chosen, was posthumously published by BuschekBooks. The Award is made possible through a generous donation from John Gleed in memory of his late wife, and is administered by The Writers’ Union of Canada. The Award was first given in 1998 for books published in 1997.

Call for Submissions

Each year, a $10,000 prize is awarded to a Canadian writer for the best first collection of published short fiction in the English language. Two finalists are also awarded $1,000 each. To be eligible, books must be first collections of short fiction written by a Canadian citizen or permanent resident and published in Canada in the English language in the 2024 calendar year. The deadline for submissions is January 31, 2025. Eligible titles may be submitted by publishers according to submission guidelines available here.

Eligibility

1) All entries must be Canadian-authored titles published in English between January 1, 2024 and December 31, 2024 and available through bookstores and libraries across Canada.
2) Only first collections of short fiction are eligible.
3) Co-authored or multi-authored collections are not eligible.
4) Posthumously published works are not eligible.
5) Only first editions are eligible. Second or later editions, revisions, and reprints are not eligible.
6) Translations from other languages into English are eligible if all other criteria are met. In the event that a translation wins the prize, 75% of the award money will go to the author and 25% to the translator.
7) Works that exist in electronic format only are not eligible.
8) Books written for children are not eligible.

How to Submit

1) All submissions must be made by publishers. Submissions made by authors or anyone acting as their agent will not be accepted. There is no limit to the number of titles a publisher may submit.
2) All submissions must be received by January 31, 2025.
3) Submissions received after the final deadline of January 31, 2025 are ineligible even if they were published on or before December 31, 2024.
4) Four copies of each title must be delivered to The Writers' Union. Submissions can be shipped to The Writers' Union of Canada, Attn Danuta Gleed Awards, 600 - 460 Richmond St W., Toronto ON M5V 1Y1. Books must be received by the deadline of January 31, 2025, to be accepted for the 2024 prize.
SUBMISSION FORM

About the Jury

The Writers’ Union of Canada and the Gleed family are pleased to announce the jury for the $10,000 Danuta Gleed Literary Award, Canada’s pre-eminent award for the best first Canadian collection of short fiction in the English language, now celebrating its 28th year. This year’s jury comprises authors Francine Cunningham, Kim Fu, and D.A. Lockhart. 

Francine Cunningham is an award-winning writer, artist, and educator who is a member of the Saddle Lake Cree Nation, and is also Métis, and has settler family roots stretching from as far away as Ireland and Belgium. Her debut book of poems On/Me (Caitlin Press) was nominated for the BC and Yukon Book Prize, the Indigenous Voices Award, and the Vancouver Book Award. Her debut book of short stories God Isn’t Here Today (Invisible Publishing) was longlisted for the inaugural Carol Shields Prize for Fiction, was a finalist for the 2023 Indigenous Voices Award, and won the 2023 ReLit Award. Her first children’s book What if bedtime didn’t exist (Annick Press) is out now and was selected as one of the 2024 TD Summer Reading Club books. She was also the 2023/2024 Writer in Residence at the University of Calgary.

Kim Fu is the author of two novels, a collection of poetry, and most recently, the story collection Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century, winner of the Danuta Gleed Literary Award, the Washington State Book Award, and the Pacific Northwest Book Award, as well as a finalist for the Giller Prize, the Ignyte Awards, the Shirley Jackson Awards, and the Saroyan International Prize. Stories in this collection have been selected for Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy and Best of the Net, featured on LeVar Burton Reads and Selected Shorts, and optioned for television and film. Their writing has appeared in the New York Times, Granta, The Atlantic, BOMB, Hazlitt, and the TLS. Fu lives in Seattle.

D.A. Lockhart is the author of multiple collections of poetry and short fiction. His work has been shortlisted for the Trillium Book Award, Raymond Souster Award, Indiana Author’s Awards, First Nations Communities READ Award, and has been a finalist for the ReLit Award. His work has appeared widely throughout Turtle Island including, The Malahat Review, Grain, CV2, TriQuarterly, The Fiddlehead, ARC Poetry Magazine, Best Canadian Poetry, Best New Poetry from the Midwest, and Belt. Along the way his work has garnered numerous Pushcart Prize nominations, National Magazine Award nominations, and Best of the Net nominations. He is pùkuwànkoamimëns of the Moravian of the Thames First Nation (Eelūnaapèewii Lahkèewiit). Lockhart currently resides at Waawiiyaatanong where he is the publisher at Urban Farmhouse Press. 

Danuta Gleed Literary Award Winners