Programs & Services

The Union provides a number of valuable programs and services for professional and developing writers, readers, event hosts, schools, and publishers.

Public Readings

The Writers' Union of Canada offers funding for author readings held in public venues across Canada through the National Public Readings Program and the National Public Readings Northern Program (currently on hiatus).
Learn more about funding for public readings

School Visits

Funded by the Ontario Arts Council and the Government of Ontario, the Union’s Writers-in-the-Schools program provides funding for author appearances in Ontario’s schools. We also offer information about similar programs that cater to schools outside of Ontario.
Learn more about funding for school visits

Webinars

The Writers' Union of Canada presents webinars on a range of craft and business topics for writers.

 

"Zoom webinars are the best thing to come out of the pandemic, as far as I'm concerned. I've had more professional development in the past four years with TWUC in particular because I live in a remote area... Many thanks to TWUC for organizing webinars for members and non-members alike. It's a wonderful service."

 

Learn more about upcoming webinars.

 

BIPOC Writers Connect

This virtual conference for Black, Indigenous, and racialized emerging writers is your chance to connect with industry professionals, established authors, and fellow emerging writers — all in one place! Presented by The Writers' Union of Canada and the League of Canadian Poets, BIPOC Writers Connect: Facilitating Mentorship, Creating Community includes one-on-one feedback from a published author, a practical query letter–writing workshop, an industry panel discussion, and plenty of networking opportunities.
Learn more

Danuta Gleed Literary Award

The Danuta Gleed Literary Award provides a $10,000 prize 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.

Learn more about the Danuta Gleed Literary Award.

Short Prose Competition

Established in 1993 in honour of the Union’s 20th anniversary, the Short Prose Competition for Emerging Writers aims to discover, encourage, and promote new writers of short prose in order to provide opportunity and exposure to developing writers. A $2,500 prize is awarded to a Canadian writer for the best piece of unpublished prose of up to 2,500 words in the English language.

Learn more about the competition.

Freedom to Read Award

The Writers’ Union of Canada is proud to present the Freedom to Read Award as part of the celebration of Freedom to Read Week across Canada in February of each year. The award recognizes work in support of freedom of expression. Previous winners have included author Lawrence Hill for his response to the threat to burn his novel The Book of Negroes, Quebec writer Charles Montpetit for his tireless work to help preserve the freedom to read and write in this country, Janine Fuller of Little Sisters bookstore in Vancouver for her ongoing challenges to Canada's ability to ban books at the border, and Toronto lawyer Clayton Ruby for his many years of working to fight censorship.

Learn more about the Freedom to Read Award.