Julia Elliott (Forrest Clonts).

Julia Elliott has won the 2026 Carol Shields Prize for Fiction for her short story collection Hellions.

Elliott’s book, which is published by Tin House, was one of five titles shortlisted for this year’s $150,000 (U.S.) prize, which celebrates and promotes the best works of fiction written by women and nonbinary writers in Canada and the United States. In addition the cash prize, Elliott will also receive a five-night stay at Fogo Island Inn.

The four finalists – Quiara Alegría Hudes, Lee Lai, Megha Majumdar, and Sonya Walger – each receive $12,500 (U.S.).

Elliott was named the winner at an eventat the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto on June 2.

Hellions is the third book by the South Carolina writer, who lives in Columbia and teaches English and Women’s and Gender Studies at the University of South Carolina. Her previous books are the short story collection The Wilds and the novel The New and Improved Romie Futch.

In their citation, the jury, comprised of chair Carmen Maria Machado, Ivan Coyote, Cherie Dimaline, Chitra Divakaruni, and Deesha Philyaw, wrote that the collection “takes no half-measures.”

“There’s folklore in these stories, and Southern gothic horror, and surrealism, and fantasy, and, at their center, a thread of uneasy, bodily realism,” the jury wrote. “The work evokes writers like Angela Carter, Dorothy Allison, Gloria Naylor, and Kelly Link. But for all its wildness, there is tremendous control; Elliott is a gifted and thrilling writer.”

This is the fourth year the prize has been awarded, and the second time the winning book has been short fiction; last year’s winner was Canisia Lubrin for Code Noir, a debut fiction composed of 59 linked stories. The other winners of the prize have been V.V. Ganeshananthan and Fatimah Asghar.