The Saskatchewan Writers’ Guild is pleased to announce that the winner of the 2023 City of Regina Writing Award is Kelley Jo Burke for her submission “Rigby”.
This year’s runners-up are Timothy Blackett for “Look Ma, It’s Me” and Chelsea Coupal for “Village Sprawl”.
Our heartiest congratulations to all three! Submissions were adjudicated anonymously by judges Anne Fleming and Yusuf Saadi.
The 2023 City of Regina Writing Award Ceremony will be held on Thursday, May 11 at 7:00 pm at Wascana Place (2900 Wascana Drive). The Award show will feature readings by winner Kelley Jo Burke and runners-up Timothy Blackett and Chelsea Coupal as well as a celebratory reception. This is a free event open to the public. For more information or to RSVP, please visit https://skwriter.com/events-and-workshops/2023-city-of-regina-writing-award-ceremony.
The award is sponsored by the City of Regina and administered by the Saskatchewan Writers’ Guild.
2023 Award Winner Kelley Jo Burke
Kelley Jo Burke is a playwright, director, actor, editor, a creative nonfiction writer and documentarian, radio producer and broadcaster. Her plays include the plague-delayed, but much anticipated musical “The Curst” (with Library Voices), premiering spring 2023 with Dancing Sky Theatre in Saskatoon, “Us” (co-creator Jeff Straker, winner of the 2017 Tom Hendry Award for Best New Musical in Canada (Playwrights Guild of Canada)), “The Lucky Ones,” “Somewhere, Sask. (co-creator Carrie Catherine)” “Ducks on the Moon” (Hagios), "The Selkie Wife" (Scirocco), "Jane's Thumb" (Signature), and "Charming and Rose: True Love (Blizzard).
She dramaturges, directs and produces for stage and radio, and was for many years the host/producer of CBC radio’ SoundXchange. She was 2009 winner of the Saskatchewan Lieutenant-Governor’s Award for Leadership in the Arts, the 2009 City of Regina Writing Award (her third time receiving that award), and the 2008 Saskatoon and Area Theatre Award for Playwriting. She works in theatre, creative non-fiction poetry and now fiction. Artistic interests include disability, body image, generational approaches to feminism, and a variety of subcultures. She calls her work “tramedy” since most of what she writes teeters on the edge between howling with laughter and just howling.
2023 Runners-Up
Timothy Blackett was born and raised in Regina, SK. He’s been writing since tenth grade when he was forced to enter a school-wide poetry contest. His debut collection of short fiction, Grandview Drive, is scheduled to be released by Nightwood Editions in October 2023. When he’s not reading or writing, he fluctuates wildly through various hobbies that include cooking, baking, making collage art, playing Pokémon Go, or singing karaoke. He lives with his fiancé and their three kids (combined family). He holds a BA in English from the U of Regina.
Chelsea Coupal's first poetry collection, Sedley (Coteau, 2018), was selected by Chapters Indigo for an Indigo Exclusive edition and shortlisted for three Saskatchewan Book Awards. Her poetry chapbook, The Slow Reveal (Anstruther, 2022), is out now. Her work has appeared in more than a dozen Canadian publications, including Arc, EVENT, the Literary Review of Canada, The Malahat Review and Best Canadian Poetry.
Bios of Jurors
Anne Fleming is the author of five books of fiction and poetry including Gay Dwarves of America, poemw, and The Goat, a novel for children. Her writing has been shortlisted for the Governor-General’s Award, the Journey Prize, the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize, and the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize. The Goat was named one of the ten best children’s books of the year by The Wall Street Journal and the New York Public Library. She teaches at UBC’s Okanagan Campus.
Yusuf Saadi’s first collection Pluviophile was shortlisted for the Griffin Poetry Prize. His writing has appeared in literary journals including The Malahat Review, Vallum, Brick, and Best Canadian Poetry. He currently resides in Montreal.
