The name change comes with a $10,000 increase in prize money, with future winners set to receive $60,000.
Atwood and Gibson, who were partners for more than a half-century until Gibson s death in 2019, were among the wordsmiths who co-founded the Writers Trust in 1976.
In a statement, playwright and fellow co-founder David Young says the prize is a perfect way to honour their commitment to Canada s literary culture.
Since 1997, the Writers Trust Fiction Prize has been handed out to the author of the year s best novel or short story collection.
Previous winners include Andre Alexis, Emma Donoghue, Lawrence Hill, Alice Munro and Austin Clarke.
Writers Trust renames fiction prize after co-founders and couple Atwood and Gibson
Margaret Atwood arrives on the red carpet for the 2019 Giller Prize before the gala ceremony in Toronto on November 18, 2019. The Writers Trust of Canada is renaming its annual fiction award after co-founders and literary power couple Margaret Atwood and Graeme Gibson. In a news release Wednesday, organizers announced that the prestigious honour will now be known as the Atwood Gibson Writers Trust Fiction Prize. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young January 27, 2021 - 3:32 AM
The Writers Trust of Canada is renaming its annual fiction award after co-founders and literary power couple Margaret Atwood and Graeme Gibson.
Last modified on Wed 27 Jan 2021 10.52 EST
Margaret Atwood has said that her late partner, the writer Graeme Gibson, would have been “very tickled” that a Canadian literary prize is being renamed after the couple, to honour their “unwavering commitment to supporting Canadian culture”.
Gibson, who died in 2019, and Atwood were two of the five co-founders of the Writers’ Trust of Canada in 1976. On Wednesday, the organisation said that because of their “tireless efforts to build structural supports for the then-nascent Canadian literary community”, it is now renaming its fiction award, won in the past by authors including Alice Munro, as the Atwood Gibson prize.
Writers Trust of Canada renaming fiction prize after Margaret Atwood and Graeme Gibson
The Atwood Gibson Writers Trust Fiction Prize will award $60,000 to the year s best work of fiction.
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The Atwood Gibson Writers Trust Fiction Prize will award $60,000 to the year s best work of fiction
Posted: Jan 27, 2021 6:00 AM ET | Last Updated: January 27
Margaret Atwood and Graeme Gibson stop on the red carpet at the Scotiabank Giller Bank Prize gala in 2018.(Chris Young/The Canadian Press)