Omar El Akkad, Miriam Toews shortlisted for Writers’ Trust non-fiction prize

By Canadian Press on September 9, 2025.

TORONTO — CanLit heavyweights Miriam Toews and Omar El Akkad are finalists for one of the country’s top non-fiction prizes.

The Writers’ Trust of Canada says they are among the five authors shortlisted for the Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction.

Toews made the list for her memoir “A Truce That Is Not Peace,” in which she explores her relationship with her sister, who died by suicide 10 years after her father did, while El Akkad is in contention for “One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This,” which examines the West’s response to Israel’s offensive in Gaza.

Also in the running are Tessa McWatt’s “The Snag: A Mother, A Forest, and Wild Grief,” which is about personal and collective mourning, and Vinh Nguyen’s “The Migrant Rain Falls in Reverse,” a memoir about a mystery that happens during a family’s escape from Vietnam.

Rounding out the short list is Leanne Betasamosake Simpson for “Theory of Water: Nishnaabe Maps to the Times Ahead,” in which the author reflects on Indigenous peoples’ relationship with water.

The $75,000 prize will be handed out at the Writers’ Trust Awards on Nov. 13.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 10, 2025.

Nicole Thompson, The Canadian Press