The Writers' Trust of Canada () is a registered charity which provides financial support to Canadian writers.
Founded by Margaret Atwood, Pierre Berton, Graeme Gibson, Margaret Laurence, and David Young; the Writers' Trust celebrates and rewards the talents and achievements of Canada's novelists, short story writers, poets, biographers, and other fiction and nonfiction writers through funding various awards, events and financial aid. It was registered as a charitable organization on March 3, 1976.
The organization funds and administers a number of Canadian literary awards; including the Atwood Gibson Writers' Trust Fiction Prize and the Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction.
The organization funds programs and events to help emerging Canadian writers such as the annual Margaret Laurence Lecture, given by a noted Canadian writer; writers' residencies at Berton House in Dawson City, Yukon; and the Woodcock Fund, which provides emergency financial assistance to Canadian writers, named in memory of the Canadian poet George Woodcock. Annual fundraisers include the Writers' Trust Gala in Toronto and ‘Politics and the Pen’ in Ottawa. Money raised to finance the charitable activities of the Writers' Trust is drawn almost exclusively from the private sector.
Management
The Writers' Trust of Canada is run by a board of directors composed of volunteers from the arts and business communities, and counseled by an Authors' Advisory Group composed of writers from across the country. Staff members see to the day-to-day operations out of a downtown Toronto office shared with the Writers' Union of Canada.
Juries are composed of writers based on recommendations by the Authors' Advisory Group; invitations are issued by the staff.
Awards
Prize winners are announced at the annual Writers' Trust Awards with the following exceptions: The Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing is handed out at Politics and the Pen in Ottawa. The RBC Bronwen Wallace Award for Emerging Writers winner is announced separately in the spring. The Dayne Ogilvie Prize is presented during Toronto's Pride Week.
All awards are open to citizens and permanent residents of Canada. Winners are decided by an independent jury, usually consisting of three writers.
Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing
The Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing was established in honour of Shaughnessy Cohen (1948–1998), an outspoken and popular Member of Parliament from Windsor, Ontario; she died after suffering a cerebral hemorrhage in the House of Commons of Canada just seconds after standing to address her peers.
A prize of is given annually to a book of literary nonfiction that captures a political subject of relevance to Canadian readers and has the potential to shape or influence thinking on contemporary Canadian political life. The winning work must combine compelling new insights with depth of research and significant literary merit. All finalist works should ideally demonstrate a distinctive voice, as well as a persuasive and compelling command of tone, narrative, style, and analysis. The prize particularly values books which provide the general reader with an informed, unique perspective on the practice of Canadian politics, its players, or its principles. The jurors shortlist between three and five titles. Prizes of will be awarded to each of the finalists.
Past winners include Jane Jacobs for Dark Age Ahead and James Orbinski for An Imperfect Offering: Humanitarian Action in the Twenty-first Century.
RBC Bronwen Wallace Award for Emerging Writers
The RBC Bronwen Wallace Award for Emerging Writers was established by author Carolyn Smart and honours the memory of Bronwen Wallace (1945 - 1989), a Canadian poet and short story writer who died of cancer at the age of 44.
Two awards are given each year to emerging writers of any age in the genres of short fiction and poetry. Two finalists in each category receive . Past winners include Michael Crummey and Alison Pick.
The Royal Bank of Canada Foundation sponsors the award as part of their RBC Emerging Artists Project, which works to support talented young adults in their development of professional careers in the arts. In 2008, the prize presentation was moved from the fall to the spring, creating the absence of 2007's award. In 2020, the age limit was removed, opening the award up to Canadian emerging writers of any age.