Rakuten Kobo has released the shortlists for the 2025 Emerging Writer Prize.

The prizes recognize exceptional books written by first-time Canadian authors in three categories: literary fiction, nonfiction, and this year, romance fiction. The genre fiction category alternates between mystery, romance, and speculative fiction.

Each award carries a cash prize of $10,000 and promotional support for the author Rakuten Kobo.

The winners will be announced June 17.

The finalists are:

Nonfiction

• The Nature of Our Cities:Harnessing the Power of the Natural World to Survive a Changing Planet by Nadina Galle (Mariner Books/HarperCollins)
• Dear Da-Lê: A Father’s Memoir of the Vietnam War and the Iranian Revolution by Anh Duong (Douglas & McIntyre)
• The Monster and the Mirror: Mental Illness, Magic, and the Stories We Tell  by K.J. Aiello (ECW Press)
• My Fighting Family: Borders and Bloodlines and the Battles That Made Us by Morgan Campbell (McClelland & Stewart/Penguin Random House Canada)
• Medicine Wheel for the Planet: A Journey toward Personal and Ecological Healing by Dr. Jennifer Grenz (Knopf Canada/Penguin Random House Canada)
• The Traitor’s Daughter by Roxana Spicer (Viking/Penguin Random House Canada)

Literary fiction

• Broughtupsy by Christina Cooke (House of Anansi Press)
• Grey Dog by Elliott Gish(ECW Press)
• The Other Valley by Scott Alexander Howard (Scribner Canada/Simon & Schuster)
• Dotted Lines by Stephanie Cesca (Guernica Editions)
• Celestina’s House by Clarissa Trinidad Gonzalez (Rare Machines/Dundurn Press)
• Coup de Grâce by Sofia Ajram (Titan Books)

Romance

• At Last Count by Claire Ross Dunn (Invisible Publishing)
• A Five-Letter Word for Love by Amy James (Avon/HarperCollins)
• The Circus Train by Amita Parikh (HarperCollins Publishers)
• Never Been Better by Leanne Toshiko Simpson (HarperCollins Publishers)
• Every Summer After by Carley Fortune (Viking/PRHC)
• A Sweet Sting of Salt by Rose Sutherland (Random House Canada)