Nancy Huggett Wins 2024 RBC PEN Canada New Voices Award
TORONTO – Nancy Huggett has been awarded the prestigious 2024 RBC PEN Canada New Voices Award for her compelling submission, Revelation. This accolade comes with a $3,000 cash prize and a mentorship opportunity with a notable Canadian author.
Selected from a pool of 560 entries, nearly double the number from last year, Huggett’s work was chosen by a distinguished jury comprising Canadian writers Sharon Bala, Dimitri Nasrallah, and Sarmishta Subramanian. The jury commended Huggett’s piece for its “powerful emotional resonance” and its “brave exploration of a felt experience,” highlighting the work’s cohesive interplay of themes related to illness, healing, and the delicate engagement with religious undertones.
Nancy Huggett, a writer and caregiver based in Ottawa, is celebrated for her rich contributions to the literary community. Her work has been published in several literary magazines, including American Literary Review, Event, Poetry Northwest, Prairie Fire, and The New Quarterly. As a settler descendant, she writes, lives, and caregives on the unceded Territory of the Anishinaabe Algonquin Nation. Huggett collaborates with various writing groups such as Firefly Creative, Merritt Writers, Trailheads, not-the-rodeo poets, and Kairos. At 66, she is the oldest recipient of the RBC PEN Canada New Voices Award.
The 2024 jury also recognized four finalists for their exceptional entries: Georgio Russell (Saltborne), Monica Nathan (Between Spaces), Hajera Khaja (The Rupture), and Tessa Swackhammer (A Man Called Evergreen).
The RBC PEN Canada New Voices Award, now in its 11th year, continues to encourage new writing by providing a platform for unpublished Canadian writers aged 17 and over. Past winners include Christine Wu, Fareh Malik, Em Dial, and Deepa Rajagopalan. The award is supported by the RBC Emerging Artists Program, which has benefitted over 35,000 emerging artists globally, emphasizing the arts’ crucial role in fostering vibrant communities and strong economies.
