Hanif

Abdurraqib

wins

2026

Hilary

Weston

International

Award

On June 17th, Writers’ Trust of Canada announced that award winning essayist, cultural critic, poet and author Hanif Abdurraqib has been named the winner of the 2026 Hilary Weston International Award. The $75,000 CAD award, launched in 2023, honours the career achievement of an international author for an outstanding body of work in literary nonfiction.

“Across Abdurraqib’s masterful and genre-bending work, the local and specific are spun inward and outward in ways that manifest a deep connection to people, place, and the world. He combines searing insights into Blackness and social inequality in the United States with themes of love and belonging, life and death.” – Jury citation

Writers’ Trust will feature Abdurraqib on stage at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto on Monday, September 14, 2026. The event, Celebrating Nonfiction: An Evening with Hanif Abdurraqib, will feature Abdurraqib in conversation with a Canadian author to discuss the place of nonfiction writing in our world. A book signing will follow. Event tickets are now on sale at WestonInternationalAward.com/event.

Read the full announcement here here.

Read more about the Hilary Weston International Award here.