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Longlist announced for $150K Carol Shields Prize for Fiction

Clockwise from top left: Lisa Alward (Maria Cardoso); Eleanor Catton (Murdo MacLeod); Claudia Dey (Norman Wong); Catherine Leroux (Audrée Wilhemy); Janika Oza (Yi Shi); Anuja Varghese (Jesse Valvasori)

The Carol Shields Prize has announced its 15-book longlist for the 2024 prize.

The $150,000 (U.S.) prize, named after the American-born and Canadian-based author Carol Shields, acknowledges, celebrates, and promotes the best works of fiction written by women and non-binary writers in Canada and the United States.

Six Canadian writers are among the longlisted authors for the prize’s second year.

The shortlist will be announced on April 9, with the winner announced on May 13 at an event in Toronto.

In addition to the large cash prize, the winner will also receive a residency at the Fogo Island Inn.

“All the authors have written remarkable works of fiction that illuminate who we are—our histories, flaws, ambitions, and loves—and who we could be,” jury chair and author Jen Sookfong Lee said in a statement. Sookfong Lee is joined on this year’s jury by authors Laila Lalami, Claire Messud, Dolen Perkins-Valdez, and Eden Robinson.

The longlisted Canadian authors are Lisa Alward for her short-story collection Cocktail, Eleanor Catton for her novel Birnam Wood, Claudia Dey for her novel Daughter, Catherine Leroux for her novel-in-translation The Future, Janika Oza for her novel A History of Burning, and Anuja Varghese for her short-story collection Chrysalis.

The longlisted titles are:

The Carol Shields Prize is the largest award specifically for women and nonbinary writers. Fatimah Asghar won the inaugural prize last year for their novel When We Were Sisters. Giller winner Suzette Mayr was one of the finalists.