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 25th year.
This year’s jury comprises authors Mark Anthony Jarman, Derek Mascarenhas, and Carmen Rodriguez.
A short list will be announced in May 2022, with the winner and two finalists being named in June 2022. The winner receives $10,000 and each of the two finalists is awarded $1,000.
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 2021 calendar year. The deadline for submissions is January 31, 2022. Eligible titles may be submitted by publishers according to submission guidelines available at writersunion.ca/danuta-gleed-literary-award.
ABOUT THE JURY
Mark Anthony Jarman is the author of Czech Techno, Knife Party at the Hotel Europa, My White Planet, 19 Knives, New Orleans Is Sinking, and the travel book Ireland’s Eye. His novel, Salvage King Ya!, is on Amazon.ca’s list of 50 Essential Canadian Books and he has won the Maclean-Hunter Endowment Award and the Jack Hodgins Fiction Prize. Mark is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, a Yaddo fellow, and teaches at the University of New Brunswick.
Derek Mascarenhas is a graduate of the University of Toronto SCS Creative Writing Program, a finalist and runner up for the Penguin Random House of Canada Student Award for Fiction, and a nominee for the Marina Nemat Award. His linked short story collection, Coconut Dreams, was called a "stunning debut" in Quill and Quire's starred review and The Globe and Mail named it one of the best reads from Canadian small presses. Derek's picture book, 100 Chapatis, is forthcoming in 2023, and he is currently working on a speculative novel.
Chilean-Canadian bilingual writer Carmen Rodríguez is the author of Guerra Prolongada/Protracted War; a volume of poetry; and a body to remember with/De cuerpo entero, a collection of short stories; and two novels: Retribution and Atacama. De cuerpo entero obtained an Honorary Mention of the Santiago Literary Awards, while and a body to remember with was runner-up for the Vancouver Book Awards. Retribution received second place in the Best Popular Novel category of the Latino Book Awards. Rodríguez also has an extensive career as an educator, including work in adult literacy with Indigenous Peoples and other marginalized communities in the Americas.
ABOUT THE AWARD
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.
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The Writers’ Union of Canada (TWUC) is the national organization of professionally published writers. TWUC was founded in 1973 to work with governments, publishers, booksellers, and readers to improve the conditions of Canadian writers. Now over 2,300 members strong, TWUC advocates on behalf of writers’ collective interests, and delivers value to members through advocacy, community, and information. TWUC believes in a thriving, diverse Canadian culture that values and supports writers.
For additional information:
John Degen, Executive Director
The Writers’ Union of Canada
jdegen@writersunion.ca
Date: November 1, 2021
