Finalists to be honoured the evening of November 9 at Cabaret Lion d’Or
The Quebec Writers’ Federation is delighted to announce the finalists for the 2026 carte blanche Prize!
Sponsored by Mark Gallop, the carte blanche Prize is awarded once a year in recognition of an outstanding submission to QWF’s flagship literary journal, carte blanche, by a Quebec writer, artist, or translator.
Thanks to Mark Gallop’s increased support, the prize amounts have been raised this year to $700, $450, and $250 for first, second, and third place, respectively. The first-place winner will also receive a unique trophy—“The Lori”—created by Montreal artist Glen LeMesurier.
The winner will be announced at the 2026 QWF Literary Awards Gala on Monday, November 9 at Cabaret Lion d’Or. The ceremony will begin at 8:00 p.m., preceded by a cocktail reception from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
The 2026 carte blanche Prize Finalists
Katia Grubisic
“Sinking”
(Translation)
Issue 53, 2026
Translated from David Clerson’s Mon fils ne revint que sept jours (Héliotrope, 2023)
Katia Grubisic is a writer, editor, and translator. Her work has won the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award, the Cole Foundation Prize for Translation, and the Governor General’s Award for translation, and has been shortlisted for the A.M. Klein Prize.
Silas James
“raccoon-sized or bigger”
(Fiction)
Issue 53, 2026
Blessed with an unflappable Ontarian twang, Silas James is a queer and trans writer and literary performer based in Tiohtià:ke/Montreal. Part unreliable socialite, part field researcher, his work pairs dark humour with unhinged storytelling, sharp social observation, and characters hurtling toward collapse. His writing has appeared in carte blanche magazine, yolk literary, and soliloquies anthology, among others. His first play, We All Died at The Lesbian Bar, sold out its 2026 Montreal Fringe Festival run and received the Patron’s Choice Award. He loves crosswords, Jesus, and Aperol spritzes.
Emma Moss Brender
“Black Lines”
(Poetry)
Issue 54, 2026
Emma Moss Brender has been rejected by prestigious literary journals across Canada, including The Malahat Review, The Capilano Review, The Fiddlehead, Contemporary Verse 2, and Grain Magazine, among many others. About Emma’s most recent chapbook, one reviewer, apparently searching for something nice to say, commented, “This collection demonstrates a clear grasp of vocabulary.”
The 2026 carte blanche Juror
Meryem Yildiz
Meryem Yildiz is a poet from Tiohtià:ke (Montreal) and the author of Backbone (Guernica Editions, 2025). Her poems have appeared in literary journals across the country, including Arc Poetry Magazine, CV2, The Ex-Puritan, The Fiddlehead, and PRISM International, among others. She has won the Quebec Writers’ Federation’s carte blanche Prize, The Malahat Review’s Far Horizons Award for Poetry, and Room Magazine’s Annual Poetry Contest. Her work explores identity, culture, and the psyche.
The 2026 QWF Awards Gala
The winner of the 2026 carte blanche Prize will be announced at the 2026 QWF Awards Gala on Monday, November 9.
The gala will also unveil the winners of the 2026 QWF Literary Awards in fiction, non-fiction, first book, translation, poetry, playwriting, spoken word, and children’s and young adult literature. The winner of the 2026 QWF College Writers Award will also be revealed, and the recipient of the 2026 Judy Mappin Community Award will also be honoured 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. Tickets to the reception are $60 ($40 for full-time students) and include two glasses of wine, beer or non-alcoholic drink and admission to the awards ceremony. Tickets for the ceremony alone are $25 ($10 for full-time students).
Tickets are currently sold out, but we expect to be able to release more tickets the week preceding the gala. To get notified as soon as more tickets go on sale, join the waiting list.
Media Inquiries:
John Wickham, Communications Manager
(514) 933-0878
john@qwf.org