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Charles Foran, Toronto-based author of 11 books, will be the new head of the Writers' Trust of Canada.James Lahey/The Canadian Press

Prize-winning writer and educator Charlie Foran will be the new executive director of the Writers’ Trust of Canada, one of the country’s foremost literary organizations.

The author of 11 books of fiction and non-fiction and winner of a Governor General’s Award, Foran was previously chief executive of the Institute for Canadian Citizenship, which was founded by the Right Honourable Adrienne Clarkson and John Ralston Saul.

Foran, also the former president of PEN Canada, will replace Mary Osborne, who leaves the charity at the end of 2019 after seven years of stewardship.

“Charlie is that rare hybrid – both a respected administrator with experience leading some of the country’s most impactful arts and social-justice organizations, and an accomplished writer working in both fiction and non-fiction,” Writers’ Trust chair Kari Cullen said. “He is recognized for his contributions to Canadian literature, and as a champion for freedom of speech."

Established in 1976 by Margaret Atwood, Graeme Gibson, Margaret Laurence, Pierre Berton and David Young, the charity provides financial support for writers at various stages of their careers and oversees some of this country’s biggest literary awards, including the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize and the Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Non-Fiction, which Foran won in 2011 for his biography of Mordecai Richler.

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