Four USask graduates receive book awards
The 33rd annual Saskatchewan Book Awards gala was held on May 1, 2026, in Regina
Four University of Saskatchewan (USask) alumni were honoured with Saskatchewan Book Awards at the 33rd annual gala, which was held on May 1, 2026, in Regina.
Saskatoon author Kristy Jackson (BA’02), a graduate of USask’s College of Arts and Science, was the evening’s top honouree with two awards—one for her book Touching Grass, and the other for her book Mortified.
USask alumni Tea Gerbeza (MFA’21), Dr. Elizabeth Quinlan (BSc’89, ARTS’93, PhD’04), and Dr. Cheryl Troupe (BA’01, MA’10, PhD’19) also received Saskatchewan Book Awards. Quinlan and Troupe are both faculty members in USask’s College of Arts and Science. In addition, Dr. Jeanette Lynes (PhD), a College of Arts and Science faculty member and the director of USask’s MFA in Writing program, earned the Fiction Book Award for her novel The Paper Birds.
The USask alumni recipients are as follows:
Book of the Year Award
- Touching Grass (HarperCollins Press Ltd.) by Kristy Jackson (BA’02) and illustrated by Rhael McGregor
Children’s Literature Award
- Mortified (HarperCollins Press Ltd.) by Kristy Jackson (BA’02) and illustrated by Rhael McGregor
SK-Arts Poetry Award Honouring Anne Szumigalski
- How I Bend Into More (Palimpsest Press) by Tea Gerbeza (MFA’21)
City of Saskatoon Book Award
- Standing Up To Big Nickel (McGill-Queen’s University Press) by Elizabeth Quinlan (BSc’89, ARTS’93, PhD’04)
Jennifer Welsh Scholarly Writing Award
- Putting Down Roots (University of Manitoba Press) by Cheryl Troupe (BA’01, MA’10, PhD’19)
Founded in 1993, the Saskatchewan Book Awards is the province’s only provincially focused writing and publishing awards program, celebrating excellence through an independent pan-Canadian jury process.
This year, more than a dozen USask alumni were shortlisted for Saskatchewan Book Awards. The shortlisted alumni and their books can be viewed here.
“The Book Awards are not just about prizes,” said executive director and USask graduate Donna Woloshyn (BA’71, BEd’80), in a news release. “We are about providing a space for Saskatchewan authors—and especially new and emerging voices—along with their publishers, to be honoured and promoted.”
The full list of 2026 Saskatchewan Book Awards winners is available online.