Latest news with #CarolShieldsPrize
CBC
02-05-2025
- Entertainment
- CBC
Ontario writer Canisia Lubrin wins $208K Carol Shields Prize for Fiction
Canadian writer Canisia Lubrin has won the 2025 Carol Shields Prize for Fiction. The $150,000 U.S. ($207,582.64 Cdn) prize recognizes the best fiction book by a woman or non-binary writer from the U.S. and Canada. It is presently the largest international literary prize for women writers. The winner will also receive a five-night residency at the Fogo Island Inn in Newfoundland. Lubrin is honoured 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. The inherent power of resistance: How Canisia Lubrin's debut novel Code Noir reflects on postcolonial agency 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. The 2025 jury was chaired by American writer Diana Abu-Jaber. The other jury members are Canadian authors Tessa McWatt, Kim Fu and Norma Dunning and American author Jeanne Thornton. " Code Noir contains multitudes. Its characters inhabit multi-layered landscapes of the past, present and future, confronting suffering, communion, and metamorphosis. Canisia Lubrin's prose is polyphonic; the stories invite you to immerse yourself in both the real and the speculative, in the intimate and in sweeping moments of history," said the jury. "Riffing on the Napoleonic decree, Lubrin retunes the legacies of slavery, colonialism, and violence. This is a virtuoso collection that breaks new ground in short fiction." The four remaining finalists included Pale Shadows by Canadian novelist Dominique Fortier, translated by Rhonda Mullins, along with American titles All Fours by Miranda July, Liars by Sarah Manguso and River East, River West by Aube Rey Lescure. They received $12,500 U.S. ($17,301.28 Cdn). The four finalists and the winner will be invited to participate in a group retreat residency at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. The Carol Shields Prize for Fiction was created to recognize novels, short story collections, and graphic novels written by women and non-binary authors and published in the U.S. and Canada. Planning for the prize began back in 2012 after Canadian author Susan Swan participated in a discussion of the status of women in writing on a panel that included Kate Mosse, who established the U.K. Women's Prize for Fiction and Australian writer Gail Jones. It was moderated by Shields's daughter Anne Giardini. Looking at statistics generated by arts organizations like VIDA: Women in Literary Arts and Canadian Women in Literary Arts (CWILA), Swan found that women writers were being reviewed in publications far less than their male counterparts. The historical numbers for major literary awards are particularly dismal — only 17 women have won the Nobel Prize in Literature since 1909 and about a third of the winners of Canada's oldest literary prize, the Governor General's Literary Award for fiction, have been women. Shields, the prize's namesake, was one of Canada's best-known writers.
Winnipeg Free Press
02-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Winnipeg Free Press
Canisia Lubrin wins Carol Shields Prize for Fiction for ‘Code Noir'
Canisia Lubrin has won the 2025 Carol Shields Prize for Fiction for her book 'Code Noir.' The Whitby, Ont.-based author will receive US$150,000. The award is the largest English-language literary prize for women and non-binary authors and is open to Canadians and Americans. Another Canadian entry among the five shortlisted books was 'Pale Shadows,' written by Dominique Fortier and translated by Rhonda Mullins. Jury members praised Lubrin's prose as 'polyphonic,' calling 'Code Noir' a 'virtuoso collection that breaks new ground in short fiction.' Lubrin's other work has been recognized with the Griffin Poetry Prize, OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature, Windham-Campbell prize for poetry and more. This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 1, 2025.
CBC
03-04-2025
- Entertainment
- CBC
Canadian writers Canisia Lubrin and Dominique Fortier shortlisted for $215K Carol Shields Prize for Fiction
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, including translations from Spanish and French. 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. The inherent power of resistance: How Canisia Lubrin's debut novel Code Noir reflects on postcolonial agency 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.
CBC
06-03-2025
- Entertainment
- CBC
Canisia Lubrin and Anne Fleming among longlisted Canadian authors for $216K Carol Shields Prize for Fiction
Writers Canisia Lubrin and Anne Fleming are among the five Canadian authors longlisted for the 2025 Carol Shields Prize for Fiction. The Carol Shields Prize awards $150,000 U.S. (approx. $215,944 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, including translations from Spanish and French. 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. The inherent power of resistance: How Canisia Lubrin's debut novel Code Noir reflects on postcolonial agency 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. Fleming is recognized for Curiosities, which was on the 2024 Giller Prize shortlist. Curiosities centres around an amateur historian who discovers an obscure memoir from 1600s England that explores a love that could not be explained in those times. Weaving together different fictional accounts, the novel tells the life stories of Joan and Thomasina, the only two survivors of a village ravaged by the plague, and how they eventually find each other again. Thomasina, now Tom, navigates the world in boy's clothes and as a male, but faces a struggle when discovered, naked, by a member of the clergy. Anne Fleming's novel Curiosities transports readers to the plagues, witch hunts and love stories of the 1600s Fleming is an author based in Victoria. Her books include Pool-Hopping and Other Stories, which was shortlisted for the Governor General's Literary Award for Fiction and the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize. She has also written a middle-grade novel, The Goat, which was a Junior Library Guild and White Ravens selection. The other Canadian titles on the Carol Shields Prize longlist are Pale Shadows by Dominique Fortier, translated by Rhonda Mullins, Naniki by Oonya Kempadoo and Cicada Summer by Erica McKeen. The complete longlist is as follows: "It has been a joy and an honour to select these outstanding books for the Carol Shields Prize longlist," said jury chair Diana Abu-Jaber in a press release. "Each of these works is extraordinary and original, showing us the path forward, out of suppression, into humanity and liberation." The jury is rounded out by Canadian authors Tessa McWatt, Kim Fu and Norma Dunning and American author Jeanne Thornton. The shortlist will be announced on April 3 and the winner will be revealed on May 1. Each of the four finalists receives $12,500 U.S. (approx. $17,972 Cdn). The Carol Shields Prize was founded by Susan Swan, Janice Zawerbny and Don Oravec. Shields, the prize's namesake, was one of Canada's best-known writers.
