The Writers' Union of Canada is pleased to announce the short list of nominees for the 26th annual DANUTA GLEED LITERARY AWARD. The Award recognizes the best first collection of short fiction by a Canadian author published in 2022 in the English language. The Award consists of cash prizes for the three best first collections, with a first prize of $10,000 and two additional prizes of $1,000 each. 

The jury this year comprised authors Cynthia Holz, Sally Ito, and Jack Wang, who determined the short list from 23 collections submitted, some by seasoned writers, others by authors being published for the first time. Those finalists are: 

Nada Alic, Bad Thoughts (Vintage Books)  
Kathy Friedman, All the Shining People (House of Anansi Press) 
Kim Fu, Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century (Coach House Books)  
Rawi Hage, Stray Dogs (Knopf Canada)  
Saeed Teebi, Her First Palestinian (House of Anansi Press)

The winners will be announced on May 25th at noon ET on The Writers’ Union of Canada’s Facebook page.

The Award was created as a 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 from John Gleed, in memory of his late wife, and is administered by The Writers’ Union of Canada.