The Saskatchewan Writers’ Guild congratulates Dave Margoshes
on receiving the 2026 Cheryl and Henry Kloppenburg Award for Literary Excellence
The Saskatchewan Writers’ Guild is proud to announce Dave Margoshes as the winner of the 2026 Cheryl and Henry Kloppenburg Award for Literary Excellence. The award will be announced publicly by Cheryl Kloppenburg on September 24 at 1:30 p.m. The award honours a Saskatchewan writer who has written a substantial body of acclaimed literary work and has had a significant impact on writing in Saskatchewan. It carries a prize of $10,000 and a framed limited edition print of a painting by well-known Saskatchewan artist Dorothy Knowles.
Most of Dave Margoshes’s adult life has been in western Canada, for 40 years in Saskatchewan. He began his writing life as a journalist, working as a reporter and editor on several daily newspapers in the U.S. and Canada, and has taught journalism and creative writing.
He’s published twenty-one books of fiction, nonfiction and poetry and has won a few prizes along the way, including Saskatchewan Book of the Year in 2007, the City of Regina Writing Award in 2004 and 2010, the Stephen Leacock Poetry Prize in 1996 and the Lieutenant Governor's Lifetime Achievement Award, presented by SK Arts, in 2022.
An active member of the literary community in Saskatchewan and beyond, he’s served on a number of boards, including for the SWG three times, the Saskatchewan Book Awards (as its first president), the Sage Hill Writing Experience (as president) and the League of Canadian Poets (as vice president).
The jury noted this when awarding Dave for 2026:
“Poetry, fiction, non-fiction, drama: 21 books -- the sheer breadth of Dave Margoshes' writing makes him worthy of notice. As the widely held respect of Canada's literary community and a dozen of the most highly sought-after awards attest, he is undeniably worthy of this prize. His work is consistently lively, insightful and playful. But Dave is not only meticulously dedicated to his own writing, but he is equally committed to his fellow writers' search for excellence, and he has invigorated Saskatchewan literature through his generous mentoring of writers and his energetic support for writing organizations. We can look to our most valued authors not just for the content of their writing, but also for a clue as to how they find it in themselves. In a 2015 interview, Dave said, "Everything can spark a poem. It's about keeping your eyes open, and, as American poet Louis Simpson says, really listening." We have been most fortunate in Saskatchewan not just in having Dave write to us of the world he's seen and heard, but to have been urged towards our own best words because we have been seen and heard by him.”
Lawyers and philanthropists Cheryl and Henry Kloppenburg established this prestigious award in 2010. The three Honorary Patrons of the Award are Her Honour the Honourable Bernadette McIntyre, Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan; Her Worship Cynthia Block, Mayor of the City of Saskatoon; and President of the University of Saskatchewan, Dr. Bruni-Bossio. The Kloppenburg Award for Literary Excellence is one of the most lucrative provincial awards in Canada.
The video announcing Dave Margoshes as the 2026 Kloppenburg Award winner will be available on our https://youtu.be/IIHJ5GyLgdQ and SWG website on Sept. 24 at 1:30 p.m.
For additional Award background information, including a full list of previous winners, please visit https://skwriter.com/programs-and-services/awards/the-cheryl-and-henry-kloppenburg-award-for-literary-excellence. Media inquiries about the award or for Cheryl Kloppenburg can be directed to Yolanda Hansen, Program Director for the Saskatchewan Writers’ Guild at programs@skwriter.com or 306-791-7743 (office) or 306-550-3101 (cell). Dave is available for interviews following the public awards announcement.
Backgrounder – Henry & Cheryl Kloppenburg
Throughout their almost 50 years of married life, Henry and Cheryl Kloppenburg believed in giving back to the community. This included in participating on boards of arts organizations and other charitable organizations. It also included donations and financial support to the community.
Their community support included the following:
The Kloppenburgs have gifted a large collection of well-known Canadian Art to the College of Agriculture and Bioresources and a collection of Inuit Art as well.
They donated 159 acres of land near Humboldt to the Crown as a wildlife refuge. This has now grown to 640 acres.
Henry was instrumental in establishing the Saskatchewan Lecture Theatre at Exeter College, Oxford University. He and Cheryl have endowed a politics Fellowship at Exeter College. In 2017, Exeter College named a classroom as the Kloppenburg Room in their honour.
The Kloppenburgs have endowed, in Canada, academic prizes in the College of Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, and university entrance scholarships to graduating students at Rosthern Junior College and Humboldt Collegiate.
They have provided funding for other awards such as the Cheryl and Henry Kloppenburg Award for Literary Excellence, the Short Grain Contest and the Hybrid Grain Contest. More recently, funding has been provided to Gustin House for its concert series.
Most recently, the Cheryl and Henry Kloppenburg Foundation has made the first of 3 installments to fund the Auditorium at the new Saskatoon Public Library, downtown location.
Sadly, Henry Kloppenburg passed away in October 2022. This award continues to be supported by the Cheryl and Henry Kloppenburg Foundation.