Kim Fu has been named the winner of the 2023 Danuta Gleed Literary Award.

The annual prize, administered by the Writers’ Union of Canada, recognizes the best first collection of short fiction published in English by a Canadian author. Fu won the $10,000 prize for her collection Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century (Coach House Books).

In their citation, jury members Cynthia Holz, Sally Ito, and Jack Wang said that Fu’s book “presents a mesmerizing array of characters whose encounters with the world are alternately mythical and monstrous, technological and disturbing,” and called Fu “masterful at telling stories that engage and astound the reader.”

Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century was also shortlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize and longlisted for the 2023 Joyce Carol Oates Prize.

Danuta Gleed runners-up Nada Alic (Bad Thoughts, Vintage/Penguin Random House Canada) and Saeed Teebi (Her First Palestinian, House of Anansi Press) will each receive $1,000.

Fu, Alic, and Teebi were among five writers shortlisted for this year’s award.