Writers' Trust of Canada
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| Founded | March 3, 1976 |
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| Founder | Margaret Atwood, Pierre Berton, Graeme Gibson, Margaret Laurence, and David Young |
| Type | Charitable organization |
| Registration no. | 119305076RR0001 |
| Location |
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| Coordinates | 43°38′47.86″N 79°23′53.86″W / 43.6466278°N 79.3982944°W |
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Area served
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Canada |
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Key people
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Mary Osborne, Executive Director Jennifer Lambert, Board Chair |
| Mission | To advance, nurture, and celebrate Canadian writers and writing. |
| Website | writerstrust |
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Formerly called
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Writers' Development Trust |
Mary Osborne, Executive Director
The Writers' Trust of Canada, or La Société d'encouragement aux écrivains du Canada, is a charitable organization which provides financial support to Canadian writers.
Founded by Margaret Atwood, Pierre Berton, Graeme Gibson, Margaret Laurence, and David Young, and registered as a charitable organization on March 3, 1976, the Writers' Trust celebrates and rewards the talents and achievements of Canada's novelists, short story writers, poets, biographers, and other fiction and nonfiction writers.
The organization funds and administers a number of Canadian literary awards including the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize and the Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction, the richest award for nonfiction in Canada.
As well, the organization funds scholarships for the Humber College School for Writers Correspondence Program; an annual Margaret Laurence Memorial Lecture, given by a noted Canadian writer; four annual writers' residencies at Berton House in Dawson City, Yukon; and the Woodcock Fund, which provides emergency financial assistance to Canadian writers, named in memory of the Canadian poet George Woodcock. Annual fundraisers include the Writers' Trust Gala in Toronto and Politics and the Pen in Ottawa. Money raised to finance the charitable activities of the Writers' Trust is drawn almost exclusively from the private sector.
To advance, nurture, and celebrate Canadian writers and writing.
To champion excellence in Canadian writing, to improve the status of writers in this country, and to create connections between writers and readers.
The Writers' Trust of Canada is run by a board of directors composed of volunteers from the arts and business communities, and counseled by an authors' advisory group of writers from across the country. Five staff members see to the day-to-day operations out of a downtown Toronto office shared with the Writers' Union of Canada.
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Wikipedia