The Writers’ Trust of Canada has revealed the finalists for the 2026 Atwood Gibson Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize, and among them is Congolese-born Canadian writer Téa Mutonji, shortlisted for her novel My Person.
Named in honour of Writers’ Trust co-founders and literary couple Margaret Atwood and Graeme Gibson, who started the organization in 1976 with the help of a few fellow writers and an aim to encourage a Canadian literary culture at home, the Atwood Gibson Prize recognizes writers of exceptional talent for the best novel or short story collection of the year.
This year’s finalists were selected by a three-member jury composed of David Chariandy, Conor Kerr, and Kathleen Winter , who selected this year’s award finalists from 118 titles representing 62 publishing imprints.
My Person is a bold debut novel following two lifelong friends who suddenly find themselves in an emotional deadlock when one abruptly proposes to break up after years of subtle betrayals. Set in the framework of a tense will-they-won’t-they break-up scenario, they become entangled in a rigorous revision of history, forcing them to reckon with where it all went wrong, or whether they were simply wrong for each other to begin with.
In their citation, the 2026 Atwood Gibson Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize jury (David Chariandy, Conor Kerr, Kathleen Winter) had this to say about Téa Mutonji’s novel:
“Witty, moving, and fiercely authentic, My Person is a unique portrait of millennial life, of the struggle of the urban creative, and of the complex realities of interracial relationships. At its core is a tense but longstanding friendship pressed to rupture by accumulated histories of reliance and betrayal. Above all, My Person is a triumph of honest writing, a gifting of deep artistic attention to the oftentimes misrepresented young women of the here and now.”
A poet and writer based in Toronto, Téa Mutonji’s debut collection of short stories, Shut Up You’re Pretty, was named a best book of the year by The Globe and Mail and The Walrus. The collection won the 2020 Edmund White Award for Debut Fiction and the Trillium Book Award, and was shortlisted for the 2019 Atwood Gibson Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize.
The winner of the 2026 Atwood Gibson Fiction Prize will be announced by Nov 10, 2026.
Congratulations, Téa Mutonji!
