HarperCollinsPublishersLtd, the UBC School of Creative Writing and CookeMcDermid Literary Management are pleased to announce the shortlist for the 2026 HarperCollinsPublishersLtd/UBC Prize for Best New Fiction, co-sponsored by CookeMcDermid Literary Management, comprised of three very different and uniquely strong books:
- Jessalyn LeBlanc for her short story collection GRAIN ELEVATORS ARE DEAD
- Adam Meisner for his historical novel FINLAY AND THE LEOPARDS
- Bethany Sampson for her romantic comedy TO HATE AND TO HOLD
The winner, chosen by CookeMcDermid and the editorial team of HarperCollins, will be offered representation by CookeMcDermid and a standard contract to publish from HarperCollins, with a negotiated advance. The shortlisted authors will each have the opportunity to engage in an editorial discussion about their work with a HarperCollins editor.
Now in its fourteenth year, the contest continues to attract high quality submissions from UBC Creative Writing students and graduates. “Each of these novels could be a potential winner,” says Janice Zawerbny, Senior Executive Editor at HarperCollins Canada. “These finalists speak to the quality and diversity of writers graduating from the UBC School of Creative Writing.”
Paige Sisley, a literary agent at CookeMcDermid who has served on the HarperCollinsPublishersLtd/UBC Prize for Best New Fiction jury since its inception, adds: “Every time we facilitate this Prize I am struck by the breadth of talent emerging from the UBC School of Creative Writing. We are grateful to each entrant who allowed us the privilege to spend time with their work, and we are very excited about this year’s shortlist and what it indicates about the future of Canadian literature.”
“I’m so thrilled by the ongoing commitment HarperCollins and CookeMcDermid have shown our students and alums with this contest—it’s a true validation of their exceptional talent and hard work,” says Annabel Lyon, Director of the UBC School of Creative Writing.
The winner will be announced September 30, 2026. The HarperCollinsPublishersLtd/UBC Prize for Best New Fiction is awarded bi-annually. The next opportunity will be in 2028.
JURY CITATIONS & AUTHOR BIOS FOLLOW
Grain Elevators are Dead by Jessalyn LeBlanc: This short story collection is a strong showcase of imagination and style. Set in the Prairies, the subject matter of the stories is varied, but they all share a distinctive glimpse into a particular, often unusual, situation or moment in Prairie life, featuring superstitious Polish homesteaders, senior hockey teams, crazed farmers, complicated family dynamics, highway workers, and the exploration of Métis identity and of cultural reclamation. Jessalyn hooks the reader into each story with a sentence or two, but they contain whole worlds.
Jessalyn LeBlanc works for Alberta King’s Printer as Editor of The Alberta Gazette in Edmonton, Alberta, and is currently completing her MFA in Creative Writing at the University of British Columbia, which is supported by a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council grant. She received an Honours Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Creative Writing at MacEwan University and took part in the 2025 Writers’ Guild of Alberta Mentorship Program. She has won UBC’s Indigenous Graduate Fellowship, the Gloria Ostrem Sawaii Senior English Prize Award, the Martine C.C. Patridge Memorial English Award, and the Laurie Morison Memorial Award. Her fiction has appeared in The Montreal Review (“Son of Terah”), the Spadina Literary Review (“They Would Know It By His Fruits”), Coffin Bell Journal (“Gertrude 1896-1927”), The Canadian Journal of Family and Youth, and the BoloTie Collective Anthology. (Photography credit: Mikaela LeBlanc.)
Finlay and the Leopards by Adam Meisner: This queer historical coming-of-age novel feels dreamily situated between the past and the present. It is set in a 19th century New Brunswick leprosy colony where Finlay, whose led a sheltered life under his paranoid mother’s watchful eye, and Thadée, a confident Acadian man with his own childhood traumas, must confront their growing bond and attraction to one another while caring for the sick among them. The novel brings to life a period of Canadian history that few people know about, yet it is rife with contemporary themes. Though it deals with heavy topics, Finlay and the Leopards is ultimately a beautiful and atmospheric story about first love, hope, community and belonging. Meisner’s novel represents a new, refreshing approach to historical fiction that feels both ‘of its time’ and distinctly modern.
Adam Meisner is a playwright, poet and fiction writer. His play For Both Resting and Breeding, published by Scirocco Drama and a finalist for a Lambda Literary Award in Queer Drama, imagines a genderless society in the year 2150. Talk Is Free Theatre has mounted performances across Canada, Australia, South America, and Japan; it was named one of the Globe and Mail’s best plays of 2025. Adam’s other writing has appeared in several literary journals including The Ex-Puritan, Copper Nickel, and Ninth Letter, and anthologies like This Is Beyond: A Time Capsule of Queer Experience. He holds an MFA from the University of British Columbia and works in arts policy at the Canada Council for the Arts. Born in Moncton, New Brunswick, Adam now lives between Ottawa and Toronto. (Photography credit: Mike Steinhauer.)
To Hate and To Hold by Bethany Sampson: This smart, funny, well-executed Own Voices rom-com is hard to resist. Imy, an autistic woman, and Cal, an autistic man, must set their rivalry aside in order to prevent their mutual best friend from marrying her toxic fiancé. Hijinx—and inconvenient romantic feelings—ensue! This novel has it all: a fantastic hook, lively characters you can’t help but fall in love with, sharp, truly funny prose, and genuine, butterfly-inducing chemistry. Sampson’s authentic voice shines, and you would be hard pressed to find a reader who won’t be charmed by this book.
Bethany Sampson is a Nova Scotian writer and educator. She has a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia where her work was supported by a SSHRC Master’s Scholarship, as well as other fiction and screenwriting awards. She also holds a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Education. She writes love stories that reflect her own experiences as a neurodivergent adult. She lives on the East Coast with her cat, Mila, and her puppy, Rou. (Photography credit: Caitlin Gordon.)
