Mona Awad, Eddy Boudel Tan, Emma Donoghue, Emma Knight, and Souvankham Thammavongsa have been selected as the final five authors contending for the 2025 Giller Prize, a prestigious $100,000 award celebrating excellence in Canadian fiction.
The diverse 2025 shortlist showcases a range of narratives, from Emma Donoghue’s exploration of an 1800s train disaster in “The Paris Express,” to Eddy Boudel Tan’s portrayal of family tragedy in “The Tiger and the Cosmonaut,” and Souvankham Thammavongsa’s depiction of life in a nail salon in “Pick a Colour.”
Souvankham Thammavongsa, a previous Giller Prize winner for her collection “How To Pronounce Knife,” is among the shortlisted authors, along with Emma Donoghue who was a nominee in 2016. Mona Awad, recognized for “We Love You, Bunny,” and Emma Knight, honored for her debut novel “The Life Cycle of the Common Octopus,” complete the lineup.
The shortlisted novels are available in various accessible formats through the National Network for Equitable Library Services and the Centre for Equitable Library Access. The jury, led by Dionne Irving along with jurors Loghan Paylor and Deepa Rajagopalan, selected the finalists from a pool of over 100 submissions.
The Giller Prize award ceremony, hosted by comedian Rick Mercer, will air on CBC TV, CBC Gem, and CBC’s YouTube channel on Monday, Nov. 17, at 9 p.m. ET. The event will also be broadcast on CBC Radio One and CBC Listen.
The Giller Prize, founded in 1994 by Toronto businessman Jack Rabinovitch in memory of his late wife, Doris Giller, has a rich history of celebrating outstanding Canadian literary talent. The prize has seen notable winners over the years, including Suzette Mayr, Esi Edugyan, Margaret Atwood, and Madeleine Thien.
For more details about the shortlisted books and the upcoming Giller Prize ceremony, you can refer to the official source.
