Cassandra Drudi, Quill & Quire Journalist Profile

Articles

Scott Alexander Howard, Anh Duong , Leanne Toshiko Simpson win 2025 Rakuten Kobo Emerging Writer prizes

1 week ago | quillandquire.com | Cassandra Drudi

Three authors have been named the winners of the 2025 Rakuten Kobo Emerging Writer Prize. The prizes recognize exceptional books written by first-time Canadian authors in three categories: literary fiction, nonfiction, and this year, romance fiction. The genre fiction category alternates between mystery, romance, and speculative fiction. The winners were announced on June 17. Each award carries a cash prize of $10,000 and promotional support for the author by Rakuten Kobo.
Ten books longlisted for 2025 Sunburst Award

1 week ago | quillandquire.com | Cassandra Drudi

Ten books have been shortlisted for the 2025 Sunburst Award for Canadian Literature of the Fantastic. This year marks a return of the annual $3,000 award after a four-year hiatus. Jurors Natalee Caple, Geoff Ryman, and Lorina Stephens selected the longlisted titles from the 78 books submitted.
Leslie Jamison wins 2025 Weston International Award

1 week ago | quillandquire.com | Cassandra Drudi

American author and essayist Leslie Jamison has been named the winner of the 2025 Weston International Award. The $75,000 award, administered by the Writers’ Trust of Canada, honours an international author for their career achievement in literary nonfiction.
H Felix Chau Bradley named 2025 Max Margles resident

2 weeks ago | quillandquire.com | Cassandra Drudi

Montreal writer and editor H Felix Chau Bradley has been named the recipient of the 2025 Max Margles Writing Residency in Ireland. Chau Bradley is the fourth writer to receive this residency, which is administered by the Quebec Writers’ Federation. They will spend three weeks in October at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre in Anaghmakerrig, County Monaghan, Ireland.
Free spirit and community still define Coach House after 60 years

3 weeks ago | buff.ly | Cassandra Drudi

“Printed in Canada by mindless acid freaks” no longer appears on the pages of Coach House books or posters and the pressmen are no longer paid in acid – these days, the drug of choice at the storied indie is caffeine, not LSD – but the independent-minded energy that animated Coach House Books when it started remains. “Some of that spirit lingers on,” Coach House editorial director Alana Wilcox tells Q&Q.
Jess Goldman, Phillip Dwight Morgan, and Dora Prieto named 2025 Bronwen Wallace Award winners

3 weeks 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

1 month 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

1 month 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

1 month 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

1 month 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.