Former Giller Prize winner André Alexis (“Fifteen Dogs”) and the Irish-Canadian novelist Emma Donoghue (“Room”) are among the 14 authors whose books have been longlisted for the 2025 Giller Prize, one of the country’s top awards for fiction.
The slate of titles, announced Monday morning, was selected from more than 100 novels submitted by Canadian publishers this year.
Alexis is nominated for his short story collection “Other Worlds,” while Donoghue, longlisted for the fourth time, is up for her novel “The Paris Express.”
Four authors who made the list are being recognized for their fiction debuts: Kirti Bhadresa (“An Astonishment of Stars”), Emma Knight (“The Life Cycle of the Common Octopus”), Otoniya J. Okot Bitek (“We, The Kindling”) and Joanna Cockerline (“Still”).
In addition to Alexis, two other nominees are previous Giller Prize winners. Souvankham Thammavongsa, longlisted this year for her novel “Pick a Colour,” claimed the fiction award in 2020 for “How to Pronounce Knife.” As well, Ian Williams, a nominee for “You’ve Changed,” won in 2019 for “Reproductions.”
The other nominated authors this year are Mona Awad (“We Love You, Bunny”); Eddy Boudel Tan (“The Tiger and the Cosmonaut”); Fanny Britt (“Sugaring Off”); Holly Kennedy (“The Sideways Life of Denny Voss”); Amanda Leduc (“Wild Life”); and Bindu Suresh (“The Road Between Us”).
“The books on this year’s Giller Prize long list represent a range of Canadian identities and experiences: characters on the open prairies, claustrophobic communities in our urban centres, and boundless representations of the imagined worlds in which Canadians find themselves,” said the jury — comprised of authors Dionne Irving, Loghan Paylor and Deepa Rajagopalan — in a press release issued Monday.
“The powerful voices on this long list depict a Canada and a world that’s compelling, dangerous, and simultaneously compassionate and inviting. These works illuminate the everyday and the otherworldly, considering what it means to be human in these funny, sad, joyful, and complicated times.”
The longlisted titles will be whittled down to a shortlist that will be announced on Oct. 6. The winning novel, whose author will receive a $100,000 prize, will be revealed at a ceremony on Nov. 17.
