By Andrew Richard Albanese, Editor-in-Chief
“Sharp, inventive, and tuned for this specific moment in our culture”
The Writers’ Trust of Canada has announced that American author Hanif Abdurraqib has been named the winner of the 2026 Weston International Award, the $75,000 (CAD) prize that honors “the career achievement of an international author for an outstanding body of work in literary nonfiction.”The Columbus, Ohio-based Abdurraqib is an award-winning essayist, cultural critic, and poet from Columbus, Ohio. His second collection, Go Ahead In The Rain, was a finalist for the Kirkus Prize and was longlisted for the National Book Award. A Little Devil In America won the Andrew Carnegie Medal and the Gordon Burn Prize. And in 2021, Abdurraqib was named a MacArthur Fellow and in 2024 a Windham-Campbell Prize recipient. His newest release, There’s Always This Year, was longlisted for the National Book Award in Nonfiction and won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Criticism.
The Weston International Award (and its companion prize, the Canadian-focused Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction) are the largest prizes for nonfiction in Canada, and are among the largest in the world.
Abdurraqib was selected from a “confidential longlist” of writers compiled by a three-person international advisory committee, with a five-person Canadian jury of authors selecting the winner. To qualify for the award, authors must have written at least three nonfiction books “outstanding literary merit in the English language or in widely available translation.”
The international advisory committee was composed of Jeffrey Brown (U.S.), Chief Arts Correspondent for PBS NewsHour; David Shariatmadari, the British‑Iranian author and literary editor at The Guardian; and Lola Shoneyin (Nigeria), author, literary festival director, and publisher.
The Canadian jury was comprised of Dean Jobb author of A Gentleman and a Thief, a Canadian bestseller and New York Times Editors’ Choice; Chase Joynt, nonfiction writer and filmmaker; Tessa McWatt, author and professor of creative writing at the University of East Anglia; Christina Sharpe, author of including Ordinary Notes, which won the Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction; and Jenny Heijun Wills author of Older Sister. Not Necessarily Related., which won the Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction.
“It is a pleasure to celebrate Hanif Abdurraqib and the important role nonfiction plays in stretching our thinking and shining a light on authentic human experiences,” said Alannah Weston, daughter of the late Hilary M. Weston, in a statement. “My mother believed deeply in the power of literature to inform, challenge and inspire, and we are proud to champion exceptional nonfiction authors and works from around the world while supporting Canada’s vibrant literary ecosystem.”
“Writers like Hanif Abdurraqib are why the Weston International Award was created,” added David Leonard, executive director of Writers’ Trust. “His writing is sharp, inventive, and tuned for this specific moment in our culture. Nonfiction is here to show us who we are and who we might become, and Abdurraqib’s contributions will be felt for generations to come.”
Comments
This is great for Hanif. But something strikes me as odd that Canada’s literary awards routinely ignore Black Canadian writers and yet they are able to recognize Black talent abroad. I am sure the jury would have voted for Obama a third time.