This is the sixteenth edition of this nationally acclaimed anthology, which has established itself as Canada’s most popular fiction anthology, presenting the best new Canadian writers from coast to coast. As well as receiving high praise every year, it is an important indicator of up-and-coming writers. Past winners include Yann Martel, Cynthia Flood, Alissa York, Kevin Armstrong, Timothy Taylor, and Jessica Grant. These writers and many others whose stories have appeared in the anthology – André Alexis, David Bergen, Dennis Bock, Terry Griggs, Elizabeth Hay, Steven Heighton, Elise Levine, Annabel Lyon, Robert McGill, Lisa Moore, Nancy Richler, Madeleine Thien, and M.G. Vassanji – have gone on to become finalists or winners of some of Canada’s most prestigious literary awards.

This fiction anthology sets itself apart from others in that editors of literary journals across the country submit what, in their view, is the most exciting writing in English they have published in the previous year. The winner of the $10,000 Writers’ Trust of Canada/McClelland & Stewart Journey Prize, and the journal which published the winning piece, will be announced in the spring of 2005 as part of The Writers’ Trust of Canada’s Great Literary Awards event.