The Writers’ Union of Canada and John Gleed are pleased to announce that Pasha Malla is the recipient of the $10,000 DANUTA GLEED LITERARY AWARD for The Withdrawal Method (Anansi), judged the best English-language first collection of short fiction by a Canadian author published in 2008.

The judges Merilyn Simonds, J. J. Steinfeld, and Rudy Wiebe and said of their first choice, The Withdrawal Method (Anansi): “Wonderfully imaginative stories that carry the reader from contemporary childhood bewilderment to loving and dying young adults to nineteenth century chicanery or a future world where Niagara Falls has dried up and life exists between detritus and rage. A profound, compassionate voice that creates a world where ‘the streets will be black and wet with melted snow and spangled golden with street lights, and riding back home along them [on your bicycle, you] will tonight feel a little bit like falling.’”

Finalists Ian Colford and Rebecca Rosenblum will each receive $500.

The judges termed Ian Colford’s collection Evidence, “A disturbing, moving, and most of all, insightful look at the life of a wandering outsider attempting to find his place in a world that is often emotionally and physically dangerous. The stories in Evidence demonstrate a firm control of narrative and language: they are the work of a skilful, talented storyteller unafraid to confront the darkness, confusion, and yearning for sense that is at the heart of our fragmented modern societies.”

Of Once by Rebecca Rosenblum, they wrote: “A pungent, witty exploration of the lives of working class twentysomethings, Once is both highly imaginative and closely observed. The writing in Once is assured; the voice, compelling. While these stories grapple with gritty contemporary urban realities, they are enlivened by an almost whimsical hope.”

The DANUTA GLEED LITERARY AWARD is given in celebration of the life of Danuta Gleed, a writer whose short fiction won several awards before her death in December, 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 by John Gleed, founder of JetForm Inc., in memory of his late wife. It is administered by The Writers' Union of Canada.

The Writers' Union of Canada is our country's national organization representing professional authors of books. Founded in 1973, the Union is dedicated to fostering writing in Canada, and promoting the rights, freedoms, and economic well being of all writers. For more information, please visit www.writersunion.ca

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For additional information
Deborah Windsor, Executive Director
The Writers’ Union of Canada
416. 703.8982 Ext. 221
dwindsor@writersunion.ca