New prize named for late author Andrew Pyper will recognize horror and thriller writers

Marcus Medford-Kerr · CBC News

· Posted: Sep 07, 2026 9:03 PM EDT | Last Updated: 11 minutes ago

LISTEN | New $20,000 literary prize created to honour Andrew Pyper's legacy:

Heidi Pyper says her late husband, Andrew, wasn't just a bestselling author. He was also generous, curious and truly cared about people.

Affectionately known as "Canada's Stephen King," Andrew died in January 2025 of complications from cancer at the age of 56.

He was a prolific and acclaimed writer of horror, thrillers and other types of speculative fiction, including The Killing Circle and The Demonologist, and Pyper said her husband wrote characters who had great depth.

But she said she's frustrated that writers like Andrew don't get the recognition they deserve, noting there aren't many genre-specific awards available for horror or thriller writing.

That's why Andrew's friend and fellow author, Craig Davidson, helped create the Andrew Pyper Prize for Genre Fiction.

• Acclaimed thriller writer Andrew Pyper dead at age 56

The $20,000 prize will be administered through the Writers’ Trust of Canada. To be eligible to win, writers must have published at least three books in the horror, thriller or speculative fiction genre. Thanks to a massive campaign, enough money has been raised to support the prize for seven years.

The announcement for the award coincides with the release of Andrew's final novel, Driven.

As a reader and writer of horror, he believed that the genre could expand people’s understanding of the human condition.

Pyper said she hopes the prize will help support and encourage authors like Andrew. She spoke to Matt Galloway, host of The Current, about the prize and legacy she wants it to leave.

When you listen to Andrew talk about horror and the human condition, what's going through your mind?

It brings such a smile to my face hearing Andrew talk about horror, thriller and genre writing in a way that's deep and meaningful because he brought a lot of depth to his writing. Particularly with the characters that he put under great duress. I remember my dad reading The Wildfire Season and saying, "Why does he keep putting these people I care about in such jeopardy?" And I was like, "That's the trick."

When he died, there was this huge outpouring of sadness from this country and beyond. There are people who perhaps only know him from his books. Tell us a little bit more about Andrew.

It's hard to talk about Andrew without sounding hyperbolic, but he really was a lovely man. He was smart, funny and talented. I would be remiss if I didn't mention how good-looking he was. People really loved him.

• Remembering celebrated Canadian thriller author Andrew Pyper

Many writers told stories of him and his generosity towards them, encouraging them to write, agreeing to come into classrooms to talk to students. The other thing that people kept saying was how he made them feel, he made them feel important. I think that stems from his curiosity. So when you were talking to Andrew, he didn't want to talk about himself, he wanted to hear about you and what was going on in your life.

This idea for this writing prize, in many ways, speaks to the generosity that he had. I'm sure he’d love this idea.

I think he'd be quite chuffed.

Andrew Pyper's last novel, Driven, which is about to be released, is the third and final book under his pseudonym Mason Coile. (Submitted by Heidi Pyper)

Tell me more about this prize and how the idea for this sparked.

Andrew played poker with a group of guys – writers, bookish-professor types – and he was no gambler, but he was dedicated to this group. About six months after Andrew died, Craig Davidson came to me and floated the idea, asked me what I thought and if it was OK if they tried to pursue this. Of course, I thought it was a wonderful idea.

Then he made the mistake of asking if I wanted to help. I'm sure he regretted that because I'd show up with my to-do list and a work-back schedule. But it came out of love and friendship amongst these men who played cards together.

But also from the fact that Andrew, despite the fact that he was a bestseller and wrote great books, didn't get the nod from some of those "literary prizes in Canada."

Yes, I think that was a frustration for him that he was disqualified before even being considered. 

It wasn't like he was nominated and didn't win. It feels like there's a gap. Genre props up the publishing industry, people gobble it up. Movies and television are made from our writing, and it feels like a missing piece in the awards landscape. They recognized that, and the Pyper Prize began in that spirit. 

It'll be $20,000.

It's a good chunk of change.

I think that's the distinction. There are awards for thriller writers and horror writers that exist. There's the [Bram Stoker Award], the Shirley Jackson [Award], I think there's the International Thriller Writers Awards but none of them come with a prize purse. So this really is a one-of-a-kind prize, not just in Canada, but we have yet to find one that is the equivalent.

'When you were talking to Andrew, he didn't want to talk about himself, he wanted to hear about you and what was going on in your life,' Heidi Pyper, right, says of her late husband. (Submitted by Heidi Pyper)

The prize arrives at the same time as his new book comes out.

Yes. So Andrew left us with a few final words. Driven is the third and final book under his pseudonym Mason Coile. So the confluence of these two things happening at the same time is really meaningful.

How are you doing in all of this?

It's a lot, I'm not going to lie. I say it's very weird to have someone who has left us be so top of mind and such an ongoing concern, I kind of live with him in my head. I've elected to keep his social media active. His publisher offered to do it, but I just felt like I wanted to keep control of that.

In some ways, the book and the prize mean that the legacy lives on, there's a voice that’s still there.

I just reread Driven a couple of weeks ago. I read it when he finished it, but he was so sick when he was writing, it was right at the end of his life. He had said to me, "Should I write another book?" And I said, "Yeah, what else are you going to do? It's the thing that's going to get you up in the morning.” I started to read it then, but it was too dark. I said, “Our life is too scary for me to read this.” So I just read it again and you can really hear his voice. The sound of it is very clear in my mind.