Access Copyright Foundation Announces its 2025 Marian Hebb Research Grant Recipients

Wednesday, July 16, 2025

Congratulations to the thirty-three creators and publishers awarded $140,000 in grant funding towards the creation of new Canadian published works

TORONTO: July 16, 2025 – Access Copyright Foundation, an arm’s length foundation of Access Copyright, is excited to unveil the thirty-three creators and publishers that have been awarded a Marian Hebb Research Grant for 2025.

This year’s grant funding, totaling $140,000, will go towards supporting research for a variety of soon-to-be-published works. Research projects receiving funding include an examination of the Caribbean social history of Scarborough, Ontario in the 1960s; a deep dive into what life was like in the Yukon during the building of the Yukon Highway; and travel to Hawaii to discover more about a grandparent’s hidden life as a steel guitar player.

For writer Rebecca Morris, “The Marian Hebb Research grant will allow me to travel to the UK and then to Germany to research my grandparents' early lives and their experiences as teenage refugees from Nazi Germany. This project will be intense, personal and (unfortunately) extremely relevant, exploring fascism then and fascism now.”

The Foundation’s Marian Hebb Research Grant program provides funding to support inquiry and exploration relevant to Canadian publishing, writing and visual arts, and toward the realization of a publishable work in progress.

“I am thrilled to receive an Access Copyright grant this year to research Métis folklore in preparation for writing my novel,” said author Lareina Abbott. “Receiving this grant means that I can take the time to deep dive into resources about the Métis devil and see how he fits into the greater Métis and Cree folklore, as well as determine which tales are culturally appropriate for use in my stories."

Since the Foundation’s inception in 2010, a total of 400 research grants representing approximately $1.6 million in funding have been awarded resulting in a significant number of Canadian published works that have been enriched through hands-on, intensive exploration.

“Human inquiry knows no bounds and certainly the projects covered through this year’s round of Marian Hebb research grant funding is testament to that,” said Paul Seesequasis, the Chair of Access Copyright Foundation’s Board. “The works that will result will add, I am sure, immeasurably to our country’s rich fabric of Canadian stories.”

The Grant is named in honour of Marian Hebb who, among her ongoing contributions to Canada’s writing and publishing community, drafted Access Copyright’s first by-laws and served as legal counsel to Access Copyright’s Board of Directors from 1988 to 2015.

Access Copyright Foundation grants are awarded through a peer review process administered by SK Arts on behalf of the Foundation. Jurors for the 2025 Marian Hebb Research Grant program were journalist and author Vince Beiser, writer Melissa Ren, and writer and arts administrator Peggy Walt.

About Access Copyright Foundation

Access Copyright Foundation provides support to creators and organizations engaged in the development and dissemination of publishable Canadian works in the literary and visual arts. It is an arm’s length foundation of Access Copyright, the collective voice of creators and publishers in Canada.

To learn more about Access Copyright Foundation, please visit the Foundation’s website.

For a look at how Access Copyright Foundation’s grants support Canada’s creative community, please visit the Foundation’s Spotlight page.

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For media inquiries:
Robert Gilbert, Manager, Communications and Marketing, Access Copyright
rgilbert@accesscopyright.ca