MFA alum Emily Cann wins the HarperCollinsPublishersLtd/UBC Prize for Best New Fiction
HarperCollinsPublishersLtd, the UBC School of Creative Writing and CookeMcDermid Literary Management are pleased to announce that the winner of the 2024 HarperCollinsPublishersLtd/UBC Prize for Best New Fiction, co-sponsored by CookeMcDermid Literary Management, is:
• Emily Cann for her adult novel BRANCHES
The jury writes: “Daring, inventive, and fast paced, BRANCHES transports us to an imagined future world, where North America is recovering from a devastating series of natural disasters and climate optimism is finally possible. On their first date, Charlie and Pinta encounter a new specimen of violent, fast-growing trees. Are they an experiment gone wrong, an act of eco-terrorism, or something else? Surprising twists propel the story in unexpected directions, grounded by the novel’s cast of complex, fully realized characters. With its winning combination of science fiction, romance and humanity, BRANCHES will appeal to readers of An Ocean of Minutes by Thea Lim and Camp Zero by Michelle Min Sterling.”
Originally from PEI, Emily Cann lives and writes as a white settler in Halifax, NS in Mi’kma’ki. She holds an MS in Narrative Medicine from Columbia University, an MA in English from the University of Guelph, and an MFA in Creative Writing from UBC. She is currently pursuing a SSHRC- and Killam-funded PhD in English at Dalhousie. Her research focuses on recovery narratives in contemporary North American novels and memoirs.
As the winner, Cann is represented by Paige Sisley at CookeMcDermid Literary Management, and BRANCHES has been acquired by Julia McDowell, to be published by HarperCollinsPublishersLtd in spring 2026.
“I am so abundantly grateful to have been selected for this year’s prize,” said Cann. “This is a very meaningful project to me and I’m so thankful to UBC, CookeMcDermid, and HarperCollins for enabling me to bring it out into the world.”
“It is not every day that an author, especially a new author, has such a strong understanding of the world they are building in their writing,” says McDowell, Cann’s editor at HarperCollinsPublishersLtd. “BRANCHES is fresh, thought-provoking and smart. We are excited about continuing to invest in and build Emily’s career as an author.”
In its more than ten-year history, the HarperCollinsPublishersLtd/UBC Prize for Best New Fiction, co-sponsored by CookeMcDermid Literary Management, has recognized as winners the works of such writers as Ellen Keith, Tammy Armstrong, Jasmine Sealy, Michelle Good, Karim Alrawi and Natalie Morrill, and now, Emily Cann.
HarperCollinsPublishersLtd
Known worldwide for the quality of its list, HarperCollinsPublishersLtd is the proud home of many bestselling and award-winning authors, including Esi Edugyan, Heather O’Neill, Lawrence Hill, Kamal Al-Solaylee, Mark Sakamoto, Emily St. John Mandel, Tracey Lindberg, Tara Westover, Hilary Mantel, Rachel Cusk, Anthony Horowitz, Uzma Jalaluddin, Amanda Peters, Zoe Whittall, Carrianne Leung, Jael Richardson, Emma Donoghue, Helen Humphreys, and Thomas King, among many more found at www.harpercollins.ca. HarperCollins is committed to publishing the best books of our generation and to work with authors over the length and breadth of their careers. HarperCollinsPublishersLtd published the first books by UBC MFA graduates Michael Christie, Michelle Good, and Ellen Keith as well as debut short story writers and novelists Ayelet Tsabari, Janie Chang and Jasmine Sealy. HarperCollinsPublishersLtd publishes fiction, non-fiction, reference books and books for children.
CookeMcDermid Literary Management
CookeMcDermid Literary Management is one of Canada’s biggest and most successful literary agencies. It was founded in 2017 when two preeminent agencies, The Cooke Agency and The McDermid Agency, amalgamated, combining nearly 50 years of experience. It is a full-service literary agency representing authors in every genre, across Canada, the United States, and throughout the world. CookeMcDermid’s clients’ books have been national bestsellers, recipients of the most prestigious literary awards, adapted into major motion pictures, and translated into over 60 languages.
The UBC School of Creative Writing
The UBC School of Creative Writing is Canada’s oldest and largest university writing program. It has fostered the talents of hundreds of notable Canadian authors, and remains at the forefront of literary training. The program was founded in 1963 by Earle Birney.
The HarperCollinsPublishersLtd/UBC Prize for Best New Fiction was created in 2013 and is awarded bi-annually. The next opportunity will be in 2026.
