Sheung-King and Martha Baillie were among the big winners at the Writers' Trust Awards ceremony Tuesday that saw many take the podium with emotional pleas to protect LGBTQ rights and end the war in Gaza. Sheung-King claimed the $60,000 Atwood Gibson Writers' Trust Fiction Prize for "Batshit Seven," a novel about a detached millennial living through the protests in Hong Kong, with the jury praising the Richmond, B.C.
- and Hong Kong-based writer's work as "darkly hilarious, and stunningly original." Sheung-King is the pen name for Aaron Tang, who took the stage amid loud hoots and applause from a group of friends and family. The Writers' Trust handed out seven awards and $330,000 in prize money at the event.
Like many who took the stage Tuesday, Sheung-King used his platform to acknowledge ongoing political turmoil, saying that in times of global crisis and war, "humanity diminishes" and "we turn to writing for clarity." "Writing is not about settling -- it is about imagining for a better future. So I want to say thank you to all my fellow artists and writers here who are writing and continue to write against state violence, to write against borders, write against war, write against genocide, to write so that we can have a better future," said Sheung-King.
"Finally I would like to say, free Palestine and ceasefire now." Calls to end the war in Gaza or support Palestinian people were a common refrain at the literary bash, with fellow winner Madeleine Thien -- who won the $25,000.
