Canadian writers Canisia Lubrin and Dominique Fortier shortlisted for $215K Carol Shields Prize for Fiction
The prize recognizes women and non-binary writers in Canada and the U.S.
Canadian writers Canisia Lubrin and Dominique Fortier are shortlisted for the 2025 Carol Shields Prize for Fiction.
The Carol Shields Prize awards $150,000 U.S. (approx. $214,855 Cdn) to a single work of fiction by a woman or non-binary writer. The prize is open to English-language books published in the U.S. or Canada. Writers must be citizens or permanent residents of Canada or the U.S.
Lubrin is longlisted for her book Code Noir, which was also shortlisted for the 2024 Atwood Gibson Fiction prize.
The Code Noir, or the Black Code, was a set of 59 articles decreed by Louis XVI in 1685 which regulated ownership of slaves in all French colonies. In Code Noir, Lubrin reflects on these codes to examine the legacy of enslavement and colonization — and the inherent power of Black resistance.
Lubrin is a Canadian writer, editor and academic who was born in St. Lucia and currently based in Whitby, Ont. Her debut poetry collection, Voodoo Hypothesis, was longlisted for the Gerald Lampert Award, the Pat Lowther Award and was a finalist for the Raymond Souster Award.
Her poetry collection The Dyzgraphxst won the 2021 OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature. It also won the 2021 Griffin Poetry Prize and was a finalist for the 2020 Governor General's Literary Prize for poetry.
Fortier is nominated for Pale Shadows, translated by Rhonda Mullins.
Pale Shadows tells the story of three important women in Emily Dickinson's life: her sister, her brother's wife and her brother's mistress, who come together after Emily's death. With nothing but the poet's scribbled scraps of paper, Lavinia, Mabel and Susan work through their grief and anger to create a life-changing book.
Fortier is an editor and translator from Outremont, Que. Her other books translated into English include On the Proper Use of Stars, Wonder, The Island of Books and Paper Houses. Fortier's first novel, Du bon usage des étoiles was nominated for a Governor General's Literary Award and the Prix des Libraires du Quebec. Her novel Au peril de la mer won the Governor General's Literary Award for French fiction.
Mullins is a translator based in Montreal. Her previous works include And Miles To Go Before I Sleep, The Laws of the Skies and Suzanne. A seven-time finalist for the Governor General's Literary Award for translation, Mullins won in 2015 for her translation of Jocelyne Saucier's Twenty-One Cardinals. Her translation of And the Birds Rained Down by Saucier was a Canada Reads contender in 2015, when it was championed by Martha Wainwright.
The other shortlisted books are by American writers. They are All Fours by Miranda July, Liars by Sarah Manguso and River East, River West by Aube Rey Lescure.
The books were selected by a jury chaired by Diana Abu-Jaber.
The jury is rounded out by Canadian authors Tessa McWatt, Kim Fu and Norma Dunning and American author Jeanne Thornton.
The winner will be revealed on May 1 in Chicago. Each of the four finalists receives $12,500 U.S. (approx. $17,877 Cdn) and is invited to join in a group residency in the Leighton Artist Studios, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity.
If a translated work wins, the author is awarded $100,000 U.S. and the translator receives $50,000 U.S.
The Carol Shields Prize was founded by Susan Swan, Janice Zawerbny and Don Oravec.
Last year's winner was V. V. Ganeshananthan for Brotherless Night.
Shields, the prize's namesake, was one of Canada's best-known writers.
Her books include the novels The Stone Diaries, which won the Governor General's Literary Award for fiction in 1992 and the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1993, Larry's Party and Unless. She died in 2003.
In 1983, Shields won the CBC Literary Prize for radio drama for Women Waiting. In 1984, she came in second in the CBC Short Story Prize for her story Flitting Behaviour.
If you're interested in the CBC Literary Prizes, the 2025 CBC Poetry Prize is open April 1-June 1. You can submit an original, unpublished poem or collection of poems. The winner will receive $6,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts, a two-week writing residency at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity and have their work published on CBC Books.
