Mona Awad, Eddy Boudel Tan, Emma Donoghue, Emma Knight, and Souvankham Thammavongsa have been announced as the five finalists for the 2025 Giller Prize, a prestigious $100,000 award celebrating outstanding Canadian fiction. The diverse shortlist features a range of themes, from historical train disasters in Donoghue’s “The Paris Express” to family secrets in Tan’s “The Tiger and the Cosmonaut” and the daily life in a nail salon in Thammavongsa’s “Pick a Colour.”
Thammavongsa, a previous Giller Prize winner for “How To Pronounce Knife,” is joined by Donoghue, who has been a finalist in previous years. Awad, recognized for “We Love You, Bunny,” was also a past nominee for “13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl.” Knight stands out as the sole debut author on the shortlist with her novel “The Life Cycle of the Common Octopus.”
The books on the 2025 Giller Prize shortlist are easily accessible in various formats through the National Network for Equitable Library Services and the Centre for Equitable Library Access. The shortlist was carefully selected by the jury led by Dionne Irving, with the award ceremony, hosted by comedian Rick Mercer, set to air on CBC TV and CBC Gem on November 17.
In recent years, the Giller Prize has faced challenges with sponsorships, leading to significant changes in its support structure. Noteworthy past winners of the Giller Prize include Suzette Mayr, Esi Edugyan, Michael Redhill, Margaret Atwood, Mordecai Richler, Alice Munro, and Madeleine Thien. Founded by Toronto businessman Jack Rabinovitch in 1994, the prize continues to honor exceptional literary works in memory of his late wife, Doris Giller.
For more detailed insights into the shortlisted books and the authors, continue reading below.
