The Carol Shields Prize revealed its 2026 longlist, with 15 books in contention for the award that celebrates “creativity and excellence in fiction by women and nonbinary writers in Canada and the United States.”
Megha Majumdar made the longlist for A Guardian and a Thief, which was a finalist for the Kirkus Prize and National Book Award, and the winner of the Andrew Carnegie Medal. Katie Kitamura was nominated for Audition, a Booker Prize and National Book Critics Circle Award finalist.
Quiara Alegría Hudes was longlisted for The White Hot, alongside Olufunke Grace Bankole for The Edge of Water; Caren Beilin for Sea, Poison; Jaime Burnet for milktooth; Nina Dunic for Suddenly Light; Janet Rich Edwards for Canticle; and Julia Elliott for Hellions.
Lauren Francis-Sharma made the longlist for Casualties of Truth, as did Lee Lai for Cannon, Amanda Leduc for Wild Life, Ruyan Meng for Morgue Keeper, Molly Olguín for The Sea Gives Up the Dead, and Sonya Walger for Lion.
The Carol Shields Prize, named for the American Canadian author of novels including The Stone Diaries and Unless, was established in 2023. The previous winners are When We Were Sisters by Fatimah Asghar, Brotherless Night by V.V. Ganeshananthan, and Code Noir by Canisia Lubrin.
The shortlist for this year’s prize, which comes with a cash award of $150,000, will be announced on April 21, with the winner announced on June 2 at a live event in Toronto.
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
