The RBC Bronwen Wallace Award for Emerging Writers

WRITERS’ TRUST REWARDS YOUNG WRITER!
Winner of the RBC Bronwen Wallace Award for Emerging Writers Announced

A literary award with a track-record for identifying some of this country’s finest developing writers was presented last night to Marjorie Celona, a twenty-seven year old from Victoria.

The RBC Bronwen Wallace Award for Emerging Writers is given to a Canadian author or landed immigrant under the age of thirty-five, not yet published in book form, for a sample of short fiction. New prize supporter RBC Foundation raised the prize’s cash value to $5,000 (from $1,000).

Celona has a degree in creative writing from the University of Victoria and is currently completing an MFA at the Iowa Writers' Workshop. Her writing has appeared in THIS magazine, The Indiana Review, and Best Canadian Stories '07.

Finalists were selected by a jury comprised of Michelle Berry, Natalee Caple, and Andrew Pyper. Of Celona’s short story, “Othello,” they wrote:

“Othello” has the mark of a mature and experienced writer. A teenage boy learns about loneliness and life’s misperceptions during a summer road trip stop at a convenience store in the town of Othello. An autistic boy and his depressed father create a powerful frame around this coming of age story, teaching us that suddenly, out of nowhere, perceptions can shift a little and in an instant the future is clear. The non-linear writing is bare and raw – an entire life summed up in so few pages. This story is a gift, a world created and presented perfectly.

Two finalists each received cash prizes of $1,000: Ben Lof for “When in the Field with Her at His Back” and Grace O'Connell for “The Bottlenecks.”

Bronwen Wallace was a mentor for many young writers as well as a creative writing teacher at St. Lawrence College and Queen’s University in Kingston. She was also the editor of Quarry Magazine, and during her editorship the magazine gave many writers their first publication. Wallace wrote four books of poetry and a collection of short stories before her death at age forty-four.

Bronwen Wallace felt strongly that unpublished writers should receive recognition at an earlier age. As a result, her close friend Carolyn Smart founded the award as a tribute to Wallace and younger writers. The award, presented for the first time in 1994, alternates each year between poetry and short fiction. Past winners include Michael Crummey, Alissa York and, most recently, Jeramy Dodds.

To celebrate the three finalists, the Writers' Trust has produced a book featuring all three stories. To receive a free, electronic version in PDF format, please send us an email with "Bronwen Wallace Book Request" in the subject heading.

Upcoming Workshops on Salt Spring Island for Fall 2007

Upcoming Workshops in Toronto for Fall 2007

The Writers' Trust of Canada has announced a series of writing workshops for Fall 2007 in Toronto.

MICHEL BASILIÈRES
"Grant Writing for Writers"
Saturday, September 15, 2007 | 1pm – 3pm
North York Central Library

For both professional and emerging writers, a step-by step walk through of how to prepare your application for literature grants. Michel will guide you through the process, showing you how to avoid the most common mistakes, You'll learn what jurors want to see, and what will make them reject an application on sight. We will cover all levels of Government funding (Toronto, Ontario, and Canada councils), using their official forms. By the end of the workshop, you will understand what happens to your application once it leaves your hands until the letters of acceptance are mailed out.

RANDY BOYAGODA
"A Writer’s Search for Voice"
Saturday, September 22, 2007 | 1pm – 3pm
Toronto Public Library – Beaches Branch

All good writing proceeds from the distinctiveness and strength of the writer's voice. What does it mean to have a distinctive and strong writer's voice? Read the greats and you'll know. A distinctive voice comes from a constant engagement with great writing combined with a lively eye and ear for the world around you. One of these elements, without the other, cannot sustain a story for very long. We find such integration in the greats: you'll never mistake Hemingway for Faulkner, Tolstoy for Dostoevsky, Munro for Gallant. In this workshop, we will read and discuss a series of great writers on the common topic of childhood, with the ambition of determining what goes into revealing the world in a fresh and disarming way. We'll focus on what choices each writer makes in the act of storytelling, and why or why not these choices appeal to your own emerging sensibility as a writer.

JUDITH THOMPSON
"Dramatic Monologues"
Saturday,October 27, 2007 | 1pm – 3pm
Toronto Public Library – Forest Hill Branch

In this two-hour workshop, two-time Governor General's Award winning playwright Judith Thompson will explore the writing and performance of a dramatic monologue with discussion and writing exercises. At the end of the session, participants will have the opportunity to read from their day's work.

CORDELIA STRUBE
"Fiction Exploration"
Saturday, November 17, 2007 | 1pm – 4pm
Toronto Public Library – Beaches Branch

To write is to learn. We extract information, absorb it, allow it to ferment then use it as our own and in so doing learn something about ourselves. In a world of media bombardment, the stillness of writing - actually taking time to think about words and formulate sentences - to complete thought - has become an archaic past time. Join Cordelia Strube in an exploration of the wonder and release of fiction writing.