Nalo Hopkinson and Heather O'Neill longlisted for the 2025 Sunburst Award
The prize recognizes Canadian writers for fantastical writing
Nalo Hopkinson and Heather O'Neill are among the longlisted authors for the 2025 Sunburst Award for Excellence in Canadian Literature of the Fantastic.
After a four-year hiatus, the award is back, offering increased prize money of $3,000 and recognizing Canadian writers for their speculative fiction.
Hopkinson is nominated for her novel Blackheart Man, which takes place on the magical island of Chynchin, and draws from a Caribbean folktale told to scare children into behaving, called the Blackheart Man in Jamaica.
In the novel, the Blackheart Man's sinister presence coincides with the arrival of colonizers trying to force a trade agreement — children start disappearing and tar statues come to life.
Veycosi, a mischievous and fame-seeking griot (poet and musician), fears that he's connected with the Blackheart Man's resurgence, and finds himself in over his head trying to stop him.
Hopkinson is the author of many novels and short stories including Brown Girl in the Ring, which won the Warner Aspect First Novel Contest and was defended on Canada Reads in 2008 by Jemeni. Her other books include Sister Mine, Midnight Robber, The Chaos, The New Moon's Arms and Skin Folk. In 2021, she won the Damon Knight Grand Master award, a lifetime achievement award for science fiction.
O'Neill is longlisted for her novel The Capital of Dreams, dark fairytale set in a small European country during a period of war. Fourteen-year-old Sofia is the daughter of the revered writer, Clara Bottom. When their country is invaded, Clara bundles Sofia onto the last train evacuating children out of the city. Clara gives her daughter her latest manuscript to smuggle to safety.
When the children's train stops in the middle of the forest, Sofia senses they are in danger. She manages to escape, but loses her mother's beloved manuscript. Soon Sofia finds herself alone in a country at war on an epic journey to find all that she has lost.
O'Neill is a novelist, short story writer and essayist from Montreal. She won Canada Reads 2024, championing The Future by Catherine Leroux, translated by Susan Ouriou.
O'Neill is the first person to win Canada Reads as both an author and a contender.
Her debut novel Lullabies for Little Criminals won Canada Reads 2007 when it was defended by musician John K. Samson.
The complete 2025 longlist is below.
- Mood Swings by Frankie Barnet
- William by Mason Coile
- The Years Shall Run Like Rabbits by Ben Berman Ghan
- Bird Suit by Sydney Hegele
- Blackheart Man by Nalo Hopkinson
- Code Noir by Canisia Lubrin
- Dayspring by Anthony Oliveira
- The Capital of Dreams by Heather O'Neill
- The Downloaded by Robert J. Sawyer
- A Seal of Salvage by Clayton B. Smith
The longlist was selected by jurors Natalee Caple, Geoff Ryman and Lorina Stephens out of 78 books.
The shortlist will be announced in July and the winner will be crowned in the fall.
