The Writers’ Union of Canada announced today that Canisia Lubrin is the recipient of the $10,000 prize for the 28th annual Danuta Gleed Literary Award, recognizing the best first collection of short fiction by a Canadian author published in 2024 in the English language.
Of Canisia Lubrin’s book Code Noir (Alfred A. Knopf), jury members Francine Cunningham, Kim Fu, and D.A. Lockhart, said: “Code Noir is a thoughtful, insightful, experimental, pointed collection. These stories show both tremendous heart and the skillful craft of its author, a masterful layering and blurring of history recorded and history lived. This book will no doubt inspire other writers to delve deep, to be playful and bold, to challenge the reader and the status quo.”
Canisia Lubrin’s books include Voodoo Hypothesis, The Dyzgraphxst and Code Noir, for which Canisia received the 2025 Carol Shields Prize for Fiction. Code Noir was also shortlisted for the Trillium Book Award, the Atwood Gibson Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize, and the Governor General’s Literary Award for Fiction. In addition, it was a Globe and Mail and CBC Best Book of 2024. Canisia’s work has been recognized with the Griffin Poetry Prize, the OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature, the OCM Bocas Prize for Poetry, the Derek Walcott Prize for Poetry, the Writer’s Trust of Canada Rising Stars prize, and others. She studied at York University and the University of Guelph, where she now coordinates the Creative Writing MFA in the School of English & Theatre Studies. In 2021, Canisia received a Windham-Campbell Prize for poetry, and the Globe and Mail named her Poet of the Year. Born in St. Lucia, Canisia now lives in Whitby, Ontario, and is the poetry editor at McClelland & Stewart.
Runners-up Vincent Anioke and Nicola Winstanley will each receive $1,000.
Of Vincent Anioke’s Perfect Little Angels (Arsenal Pulp Press), the jury said: “The stories in Perfect Little Angels demonstrate remarkable range and depth. Each life contained within is immersive and unexpected, their desires sharply felt, the larger thematic concerns — the nature of violence, fragile masculinity, tradition, and class — grounded with vivid specificity. This is a debut from a writer already in full command of his power.”
Of Nicola Winstanley’s Smoke (Buckrider Books), the jury said: “With unforgettable characters that come alive off the page, Smoke will stay with you long after reading. Linked by young voices struggling to find their way in the world, these screams of youthful angst ring heartbreakingly true. This collection is seamlessly constructed by a talented hand.”
The shortlist of five books was announced on April 30, 2025, and also included Billy-Ray Belcourt for Coexistence (Hamish Hamilton) and Shashi Bhat for Death by a Thousand Cuts (McClelland & Stewart).
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.
To date, the award has presented more than $255,000 to writers and has recognized more than 140 first collections of short fiction for their excellence. The first recipient was Curtis Gillespie for The Progress of an Object in Motion. Other winners have included Kim Fu for Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century, Carrianne Leung for That Time I Loved You, Zalika Reid-Benta for Frying Plantain, Jack Wang for We Two Alone, and last year’s winner, Lisa Alward for Cocktail.
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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 2,900 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. Learn more at writersunion.ca.
For additional information:
John Degen, Chief Executive Officer
The Writers’ Union of Canada
jdegen@writersunion.ca
DATE: June 5, 2025
