The Writers' Union of Canada, the Writers' Trust, and the Royal Bank of Canada have stepped up to provide emergency support to writers who have suffered severe economic loss during the Covid-19 emergency.
The Writers' Union, which has been surveying its members on their income losses, has already identified more that $1.6 million in lost income by independent writers.
“The Writers’ Union of Canada is proud to be a founding partner in the Emergency Relief Fund,” said John Degen, TWUC’s executive director, “The crushing economic blow from COVID-19 comes at a time when writers are already imperilled by regulatory failure around copyright licensing. And yet more than ever, the works of Canada’s authors are desperately in demand by teachers and students. We hope our contribution will inspire others to donate to keep authors working.”Lost income may not be a problem for tenured and salaried academic historians, but directly affects trade-market historical writers and other nonfiction writers and freelance journalists along with other creative writers. And who will support unorganized sessional lecturers and other insecure scholars remains an open question.
The Emergency Fund is accepting donations through the Writers' Trust website. I think I'll send them something.
