QWF is pleased to announce that the recipient of the 2026 Judy Mappin Community Award is Rahul Varma.
Over his 45-year career as co-founder and Artistic Director of Teesri Duniya Theatre, Rahul Varma has tirelessly campaigned to create opportunities for and increase the visibility of racialized and marginalized artists in Quebec and Canadian theatre.
In 1981, along with co-founder Rana Bose, Rahul saw a need to diversify Canadian theatre beyond the white settler–colonial experience. Since then, Teesri Duniya has produced over 75 plays and dance dramas in English, Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi, Bengali, and Tamil, supporting a diverse range of artists and building cross-cultural bridges between Quebecers of Asian, African, Middle Eastern, Latinx, mixed-race, First Nations, and European origin.
In 1999, Rahul founded the quarterly magazine alt.theatre: Cultural Diversity and the Stage, Canada’s only professional journal examining intersections between politics, cultural plurality, social activism, and the stage. He has written many articles in the mainstream and alternative press commenting on issues such as Bill 21, multiculturalism in Quebec, the SLAV controversy, Indigenous rights in Canada, the genocide in Gaza, the ethics of cultural representation, and more. His writing advocates and articulates how Quebec and Canadian arts can truly become more representative, inclusive, and equal.
Rahul has served on the boards of the Quebec Writers’ Federation, Playwrights’ Workshop Montreal, and the Quebec Drama Federation. He has previously received the Quebec Drama Federation’s Juror’s Award; the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Award; the Montreal English Critics’ Circle Award for Interculturalism; and a Lifetime Honorary Membership Award from the Canadian Association for Theatre Research.
For his tenacity, vision, and tireless work to diversify and decolonize theatre and create opportunities for marginalized voices in Canadian theatre and society, it gives us great pleasure to present Rahul Varma with the 2026 Judy Mappin Community Award.
About the Judy Mappin Community Award
The Judy Mappin Community Award is named for the first recipient of QWF’s Community Award in 1995, who quietly but fiercely promoted generations of Canadian writers in her long career as a bookseller at the now-defunct Double Hook bookstore in Westmount, Quebec. It is bestowed every year to a member of the literary community for their significant and longstanding contributions to English-language literature in Quebec. Since 2025, the award has included a cash prize of $1,000 and a unique trophy—the “Judy”—created by Glen LeMesurier.
The 2026 QWF Awards Gala
Rahul Varma will be honoured as the recipient of the Judy Mappin Community Award the evening of Monday, November 9, at the at the 2026 QWF Awards Gala, hosted by Linda Morra.
The gala will also unveil the winners of the 2026 carte blanche Prize, the 2026 QWF College Writers Award, and the 2026 QWF Literary Awards in fiction, non-fiction, first book, translation, poetry, playwriting, spoken word, and children’s and young adult literature. The 2027 Lori Schubert Writer in Residence will also be announced at the gala.
The gala is open to the public. A cocktail reception will be held from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m., followed by the awards ceremony at 8 p.m. The theme of this year’s gala is “Fancy Schmancy.” Attendees are invited to get in the spirit of the theme by dressing extravagantly, luxuriously, or with unapologetic flair. Dressing to the theme is optional but welcome.
Tickets to the gala are now sold out.