Three finalists named for inaugural Writers’ Trust non-fiction editing prize

TORONTO — Award-winning poet katherena vermette is among the three finalists for the Writers’ Trust’s inaugural prize for non-fiction editing.

The Nancy Flight Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction Editing awards $25,000 to an editor whose work has made an outstanding contribution to a full-length book of literary non-fiction. The organization says the award is the largest of its kind in Canada, with runners-up receiving $2,500 each.

vermette is nominated for editing “Carry Your Heart: Indigenous Helping Wisdom and the Science of Psychological Flexibility” by Cree psychotherapist Louis Busch, who blends Indigenous teaching wisdoms and Western psychology in the self-help title.

The Winnipeg-born vermette previously won the Governor General’s Literary Award for English-language poetry in 2013 for her collection “North End Love Songs.” She also won the Atwood Gibson Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize for her 2021 novel “The Strangers.”

Also among the finalists is Victoria’s George Galt for Sarah Ellis’ memoir “My Year in Fairyland: Grief, MAID and a Lifetime of Books,” which details the 12 months before her wife’s medically assisted death.

Rounding out the contenders is Vancouver’s Rachel Rose for “Humanitarienne: A Doctor’s Stories from the Conflict Zone” by physician and public health specialist Kirsten Johnson. The memoir explores her career in war-torn and disaster-affected regions.

The Writers’ Trust says the prize will be handed out annually until 2033 as part of a multi-year commitment of $483,000.

A three-person jury selected the finalists. The winner will be announced on Nov. 10 in Toronto.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 7, 2026.