Cassandra Drudi, Quill & Quire Journalist Profile

Articles

Jess Goldman, Phillip Dwight Morgan, and Dora Prieto named 2025 Bronwen Wallace Award winners

5 days ago | quillandquire.com | Cassandra Drudi

Three writers have been named the winners of the 2025 RBC Bronwen Wallace Award for Emerging Writers. The award, established in 1994, grants $10,000 annually to a writer of fiction and poetry. It is administered by the Writers’ Trust of Canada. This year, the prize was also awarded to a writer of creative nonfiction for the first time since the category was added last year. The finalists were chosen from shortlists of three writers in each category.
Michael Crummey wins 2025 Dublin Literary Award

2 weeks ago | quillandquire.com | Cassandra Drudi

Michael Crummey has won the 2025 Dublin Literary Award. Crummey’s novel The Adversary (Knopf Canada/PRHC) was one of six titles shortlisted for the €100,000 prize, which is worth about $147,000. The other shortlisted titles were Not a River by Selva Almada, translated by Annie McDermott; We Are Light by Gerda Blees, translated by Michele Hutchison; James by Percival Everett; Prophet Song by Paul Lynch; and Northwoods by Daniel Mason.
Three books shortlisted for 2025 Leacock Medal

2 weeks ago | quillandquire.com | Cassandra Drudi

Three books have been named finalists for the 2025 Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour. The annual award, now in its 78th year, recognizes excellence in Canadian literary humour. Previous winners include Terry Fallis, Will Ferguson, W.O.Mitchell, Stuart McLean, and Mordecai Richler. The three finalists were selected from a 10-book longlist announced in April. The winner will be named at a gala in Orillia, Ontario, on June 21.
Jeff Lemire, Maurice Vellekoop, Elise Gravel among Canadian Eisner nominees

3 weeks ago | quillandquire.com | Cassandra Drudi

More than 10 Canadians have been nominated for the 2025 U.S. Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards. Jeff Lemire, Mariko Tamaki, Sid Sharp, Elise Gravel, Adam de Souza, David Lapp, Sarah Leavitt, Maurice Vellekoop, Alison McCreesh, Boum, and Chip Zdarsky are among the nominees in 32 categories, with Canadian creators accounting for all but one of the five nominees in the Best Graphic Memoir category.
Look to the elder: Tessa McWatt on snags, grief, and hope

3 weeks ago | quillandquire.com | Cassandra Drudi

The two words in the title of Tessa McWatt’s latest book do a lot of work for seven letters. The Snag: A Mother, A Forest and Wild Grief (Random House Canada, available now) is the second work of nonfiction from the London-based author of seven novels and two books for young people.
Indie titles sweep 2025 LCP Book Awards

3 weeks ago | quillandquire.com | Cassandra Drudi

Three poets have been named the winners of this year’s LCP Book Awards. Each award carries a $2,000 prize. Marc Perez was named the winner of the Gerald Lampert Award for a debut book of poetry for Dayo, published by Brick Books. Bren Simmers won the Pat Lowther award for a book of poetry by a woman for The Work, published by Gaspereau Press. Chimwemwe Undi won the Raymond Souster Award for a book of poetry by a league member for Scientific Marvel, published by House of Anansi Press.
Canadian writer wins Commonwealth Short Story Prize for Canada and Europe

3 weeks ago | quillandquire.com | Cassandra Drudi

For the second year in a row, a Canadian writer has been named the regional winner for Canada and Europe of the 2025 Commonwealth Short Story Prize. Chanel Sutherland was one of two Canadian writers shortlisted last month for the regional prize. Sutherland was named the winner of the Canada and Europe regional prize on May 14. The Commonwealth Short Story Prize is awarded annually to the best piece of unpublished short fiction between 2,000 and 5,000 words.
Margaret Atwood wins British Book Award for Freedom to Publish

3 weeks ago | quillandquire.com | Cassandra Drudi

Margaret Atwood has been named the fourth recipient of the British Book Award for Freedom to Publish. The award, presented in partnership with the nonprofit Index on Censorship, honours an individual who has demonstrated “exceptional commitment to championing reading and free expression.” Previous recipients are Georgian-Russian author Boris Akunin, novelist Salman Rushdie, and HarperCollins publishing director Arabella Pike.
Canisia Lubrin, Maurice Vellekoop among writers shortlisted for 2025 Trillium Book Awards

1 month ago | quillandquire.com | Cassandra Drudi

Award-winning titles by Canisia Lubrin and Maurice Vellekoop are among the books shortlisted for the 2025 Trillium Book Awards. The shortlists, announced today by Ontario Creates, include 16 books in French and English across four categories. The annual awards, now in their 38th year, recognize literary excellence in Ontario writers who work in both French and English.
Canadian writers launch online book auction to raise money for eSIM cards for Gazans

1 month ago | quillandquire.com | Cassandra Drudi

More than 100 Canadian writers have donated autographed and special editions of their books to an online auction raising funds for Crips for eSims for Gaza, a crowdfunded project that sends electronic SIM cards to Palestinians living in Gaza. Launched by writers Thea Lim and Jody Chan, with support from T.