Welcome to the Greber Writing Awards' blog. We welcome your comments and suggestions.
Keep the Conversation Going
We are delighted to share that our three time winner, Marcello Di Cintio has won the 2026 W.O. Mitchell Book Prize for his non-fiction book, Precarious: The Lives of Migrant Workers. Precarious examines the resilience and vulnerability of Canada's migrant labor force, offering an in-depth look at the workers who sustain the country's economy.
The City of Calgary W.O. Mitchell Book Prize is awarded in honour of acclaimed Calgary writer W.O. Mitchell and recognizes literary achievement by Calgary authors. This marks the third time Di Cintio has won the W.O. Mitchell Prize, following his previous victories for Walls and Pay No Heed to the Rockets.
Di Cintio's books and magazine stories have won three Dave Greber Freelance Writers Awards, five Alberta literary Awards, a National Magazine award, the Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing and three Alberta Magazine Awards. Driven: The Secret Lives of Taxi Drivers (2021), was a Globe and Mail Book of the Year.
Di Cintio’s writing has also appeared in publications such as The International New York Times, The Walrus, Maclean's, Canadian Geographic and Afar. Di Cintio has served as a writer-in-residence at the Calgary Public Library, the University of Calgary and the Palestine Writing workshop. DiCintio is a member of the Writer's Union of Canada, PEN Canada and the Writer's Guild of Alberta. He was the 2009-2010 Markin-Flanagan Canadian Writer-in-Residence at the University of Calgary.
“ Let’s take a moment and thank the talented authors who provide us with worlds to disappear into, problems we can solve between pages, wonderful characters we adore and villains we love to despise.
— Jamie Davis
Marcello DiCintio, 2024 Book Award Winner
Calgary writer Marcello Di Cintio is the author of five books, including Walls: Travels Along the Barricades (winner of the Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing and the W. O. Mitchell City of Calgary Book Prize), Pay No Heed to the Rockets: Palestine in the Present Tense (another Calgary Book Prize winner) and, most recently, Driven: The Secret Lives of Taxi Drivers.
Sally Armstrong, 2017 Magazine Award Winner
Human rights activist, journalist and award-winning author Sally Armstrong has covered stories about women and girls in zones of conflict all over the world.
Marcello DiCintio, 2009 Magazine and 2005 Book Award Winner
In 2009 Mr. DiCintio won the Dave Greber Freelance Writers Award for his article titled Walls of Shame published by Geist Magazine. It is an adaptation of a chapter from his book in progress about communities that live in the shadow of walls, fences and other "hard" barriers.
Deborah Campbell, 2008 Magazine Award Winner
Deborah Campbell, Vancouver freelance writer, is the 2008 winner of the recently redesigned Dave Greber Freelance Writers Magazine Awards for her article published in the April 2008 issue of Harper's magazine entitled Exodus: Where will Iraq Go Next?