The finalists for the annual Amazon Canada First Novel Award for the best debut novel by a Canadian author have been revealed:

• Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead by Emily Austin (Atria)
• Probably Ruby by Lisa Bird-Wilson (Penguin Random House Canada/Doubleday Canada)
• Ghost Forest by Pik-Shuen Fung (Strange Light)
• All the Quiet Places by Brian Thomas Isaac (TouchWood Editions/Brindle & Glass)
• Avenue of Champions by Conor Kerr (Nightwood Editions)
• We, Jane by Aimee Wall (Book*hug Press)

The winner will be awarded $60,000, and each of the six finalists will receive $6,000. This year’s panel of judges is composed of Suzette Mayr, Casey Plett, David A. Robertson, and Joshua Whitehead.

Simultaneously, this year’s finalists for the Youth Short Story Category – now in it its fifth year – were announced.

The finalists were selected from short story submissions by writers ages 13 to 17. The winner receives $5,000 and a mentorship lunch with editors of The Walrus.

• Annabel Li, “What About the Wild Things?”
• Danielle Lopez, “The Leaf and the Ivy Vine”
• Caitlin Mah, “Mei-Ying, The Heavens Are Crying”
• Bohmie Song, “Lilacs Grow Green”
• Cassie Thompson, “Fear Bright Eyes”
• Celeste Trealout, “A Rose Once Grew Here”

Prize winners in both categories will be announced June 1 at a live event in Toronto.