MFA in Writing Student Wins Inaugural Sharon Butala Award in Writing

An award-winning author of many books, Sharon Butala attended the University of Saskatchewan, where her studies  formed the foundation of her long writing career. Butala generously gifted the MFA in Writing with a scholarship intended specifically for a student who has been out of high school for a period of more than six years.

During the 1980s, the first winner of the award, Robert Benz, was a bush pilot in northern Saskatchewan and the Territories. He holds a B.A. Honours in English (1991) and began his MFA in Writing studies in 2023. Since 1991, he has acted on stages across western Canada. He writes poetry and lyrical short stories, and he has recently had work published in New Welsh Review, The Dalhousie Review, The Antigonish Review, and The New Quarterly. Congratulations, Robert!