Two Vancouver authors make the new Carol Shields Prize for Fiction’s 2023 longlist
World’s first and largest literary prize for women and nonbinary writers includes Chelene Knight, Tsering Yangzom Lama among 15 finalists
Tsering Yangzom Lama. Photo by Paige Critcher
Chelene Knight. Photo by Jon McRae
THE CAROL SHIELDS Prize for Fiction, a major new literary prize for women and non-binary writers, has announced its longlist of 15 Canadian and U.S. authors.
From Vancouver are Chelene Knight and Tsering Yangzom Lama.
The Carol Shields Prize for Fiction is the first English-language literary award to celebrate creativity and excellence in fiction by women and non-binary writers in Canada and the United States.
The winning author will receive US$150,000 grand prize and a residency at Fogo Island Inn, while four finalists will each receive US$12,500.
A jury of esteemed writers—including Anita Rau Badami, Merilyn Simonds, Monique Truong, katherena vermette, and Crystal Wilkinson—determined the longlist from more than 250 eligible entries of English-language fiction books from 2022 by Canadian and U.S. women and non-binary authors.
Vancouver-born Knight is the author of Junie (Book*hug Press). Knight also wrote Braided Skin and the memoir Dear Current Occupant, winner of the 2018 Vancouver Book Award. She is the founder of her own literary studio, Breathing Space Creative, through which she launched The Forever Writers Club, whose members are writers focused on creative sustainability. Now based in Harrison Hot Springs, Knight works as a literary agent with the Transatlantic Agency.
Lama is the author of We Measure the Earth with Our Bodies (McClelland & Stewart), her first novel. Born and raised in Nepal, Lama has a BA in creative writing and international relations from the University of British Columbia and an MFA from Columbia University.
The other Canadian finalists are: Francine Cunningham, God Isn't Here Today (Invisible Publishing); Suzette Mayr, The Sleeping Car Porter (Coach House Books); and Emma Hooper, We Should Not Be Afraid of the Sky (Penguin Canada).
Remaining finalists are: Daphne Palasi Andreades, Brown Girls (Random House); Fatimah Asghar, When We Were Sisters (One World); Andrea Barrett, Natural History: Stories (Norton); Lisa Hsiao Chen, Activities of Daily Living (Norton); Kali Fajardo-Anstine, Woman of Light (One World); Liana Finck, Let There Be Light (Random House); Gish Jen, Thank You, Mr. Nixon (Knopf); Talia Lakshmi Kolluri, What We Fed to the Manticore (Tin House); Alexis Schaitkin, Elsewhere (Celadon Books); and Namwali Serpell, The Furrows: A Novel (Hogarth).
The Carol Shields Prize for Fiction aims to address the continued inequality of women in the literary world, who earn 45 percent less than their male counterparts, according to a release. And while men make up 55 percent of readers for the top 10 bestselling male authors, men make up only 19 percent of readers for the top 10 bestselling women authors.
The prize purse comes from a donation of US$200,000 by BMO, the event’s flagship sponsor, which is donating this amount for the 2023 and 2024 prize. The Carol Shields Prize Foundation also supports more than 10 residencies, mentorships, and scholarship opportunities for women and non-binary writers.
“After a decade of planning and fundraising, the three of us are thrilled to see the longlist of nominees, says author Susan Swan, editor Janice Zawerbny, and arts activist Don Oravec, the co-founders of the Carol Shields Prize for Fiction. “To have your book singled out by a jury for a major literary prize like the Carol Shields Prize for Fiction is a lasting honor and we congratulate every nominee and wish them all good luck.”
Shields wrote more than 20 acclaimed books, including novels, plays, poetry, essays, criticism, short fiction, and biography. Most notably, her novel The Stone Diaries won the Governor General’s Literary Award and the Pulitzer Prize and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize In addition to her career as an author, Shields taught at the University of Ottawa, the University of British Columbia, and the University of Manitoba. In 1996, she became chancellor of the University of Winnipeg. She raised five children with her husband, Don, and died from complications of breast cancer in Victoria in 2003, at the age of 68.
A shortlist of five finalists will be announced on April 6, with the winner being announced on May at a live and livestreamed event from Ann Patchett’s Parnassus Books in Nashville, Tennessee.
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