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.

Short List Announced for the 2025 Danuta Gleed Literary Award

The Writers’ Union of Canada is pleased to announce the short list of nominees for the 29th annual Danuta Gleed Literary Award. The Award recognizes the best first collection of short fiction by a Canadian author published in 2025 in the English language. The winner receives a prize of $10,000 and the finalists each receive $1,000. The jury this year comprises authors Lisa Alward, Waubgeshig Rice, and Anuja Varghese, who determined the short list from 18 collections submitted, some by seasoned writers, others by authors being published for the first time. Those finalists are: 

Caitlin Galway, A Song for Wildcats (Rare Machines) 
Catherine Hunter, Seeing You Home (Signature Editions) 
Mikka Jacobsen, Good Victory (Freehand Books) 
Tracey Lindberg, The Cree Word for Love: Sâkihitowin (HarperAvenue) 
Leila Marshy, My Thievery of the People (Baraka Books)

The winner will be announced in June. Read the full release with jury remarks here.

Eligibility

1) All entries must be Canadian-authored titles published in English between January 1, 2025 and December 31, 2025 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, 2026.
3) Submissions received after the final deadline of January 31, 2026 are ineligible even if they were published on or before December 31, 2025.
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, 2026, to be accepted for the 2025 prize.

IMPORTANT DATES

Submissions Open: November 12, 2025

Submissions Deadline: January 31, 2026

Short List Announced: May 2026

Winner Announced: June 2026

ABOUT THE JURY

Lisa Alward’s debut short story collection, Cocktail (Biblioasis), won the 2023 Danuta Gleed Literary Award. Cocktail also received the New Brunswick Mrs. Dunster’s Award for Fiction and was longlisted for the 2024 Carol Shields Prize. Her stories have appeared in The Journey Prize and twice in Best Canadian Stories as well as in a variety of literary magazines. Born and raised in Halifax, she studied English at the University of Toronto and Queen Mary College in the UK. She worked in book publishing in Toronto in the 1980s and early ’90s, before moving with her young family to Vancouver and ultimately to Fredericton, where at fifty she began to write fiction. She is presently working on a short novel.

Waubgeshig Rice grew up in Wasauksing First Nation on the shores of Georgian Bay, in the southeast of Robinson-Huron Treaty territory. He graduated from the journalism program at Toronto Metropolitan University in 2002 and spent most of his journalism career with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation as a video journalist and radio host. He’s a writer, listener, speaker, language learner, and a martial artist, holding a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. He is the author of the short story collection Midnight Sweatlodge (2011), and the novels Legacy (2014), Moon of the Crusted Snow (2018), and Moon of the Turning Leaves (2023). He appreciates loud music and the four seasons. He lives in N’Swakamok — also known as Sudbury, Ontario — with his wife and three sons.

Anuja Varghese (she/her) is an award-winning writer and editor. Her work has appeared in several literary magazines and anthologies, and she is the Fiction Editor at the Ex-Puritan Magazine. In 2023, her short story collection, Chrysalis (House of Anansi), won the Writers’ Trust of Canada Dayne Ogilvie Prize and the Governor General’s Literary Award for Fiction and, in 2024, was longlisted for the Carol Shields Prize for Fiction and shortlisted for the Rakuten Kobo Emerging Writer Prize. Her debut novel, A Kiss of Crimson Ash (Penguin), the first in a new fantasy trilogy inspired by medieval India, is forthcoming in May 2026. Anuja lives in Hamilton, Ontario, with her partner, two kids, and two cats.

DANUTA GLEED LITERARY AWARD WINNERS