Here are the 5 books on the 2026 Giller Prize shortlist

The five books shortlisted for the 2026 Giller Prize. (Graphic by CBC Books)Social SharingTara Gereaux, Michelle Good, Nicholas Herring, Nazanine Hozar and Patmeena Sabit are the five writers shortlisted for the 2026 Giller Prize.

The $100,000 award annually recognizes the best in Canadian fiction.

The 2026 shortlist features five novels, covering a wide range of material, from a historical fiction set in 1940s Saskatchewan (Gereaux's Wild People Quiet) to a contemporary story about a road trip from New Brunswick to Toronto (Herring's Your Breath in Charcoal) and a harrowing novel about child soldiers in the Iran-Iraq war (Hozar's The Small Ones).

Good, on the list for Eliza Sunshine, is the only author on the shortlist who has previously been recognized by the Giller Prize. Her debut novel, Five Little Indians, was on the 2020 longlist and won Canada Reads in 2022.

Unlike the other shortlisted authors who have had books published before, Sabit is a finalist for her debut work of fiction, Good People.

The 2027 CBC Short Story Prize is open!

The books on the 2026 Giller Prize shortlist are available in accessible formats through the National Network for Equitable Library Services and the Centre for Equitable Library Access.

The shortlist was chosen by a jury made up of independent booksellers from across the country: Dan Macdonald and Lori Cheverie of the Maritimes' Bookmark, Danielle and Rupert McNally from Toronto's Ben McNally Books, Sarah Klassen from Mosaic Books in B.C., Chris Hall of McNally Robinson Booksellers in Winnipeg, Jenn Baerg Steyn of Yellowknife Books, Sean Liburd of Knowledge Bookstore in Brampton, Ont., and Carmela Vedar of The Book Wardrobe in Mississauga, Ont.

The winner will be announced on Nov. 16 at the Giller Prize award ceremony in Toronto.

The ceremony, hosted by comedian Rick Mercer, will be broadcast on Monday, Nov. 16, at 9 p.m. ET (11:30 p.m. AT, 12 a.m. NT) on CBC TV and CBC Gem, with a livestream also available at 9 p.m. ET on CBC's YouTube channel. It will also be broadcast on CBC Radio One and CBC Listen.

The Giller finalists will also appear at live events in Calgary, Ottawa, Halifax and Toronto as part of the Between the Pages series.

After a few years of controversy surrounding the prize's funding, the Giller Prize cut ties with its former sponsor, Scotiabank, in 2025. The Giller Prize will now be supported by a recent multi-year gift of $4 million from the Hilary and Galen Weston Foundation.

Last year's winner was Souvankham Thammavongsa for Pick a Colour.

Other past winners include Anne Michaels for Held, Sarah Bernstein for Study for Obedience, Suzette Mayr for The Sleeping Car Porter, Esi Edugyan for Washington Black, Michael Redhill for Bellevue Square, Margaret Atwood for Alias Grace, Mordecai Richler for Barney's Version and Madeleine Thien for Do Not Say We Have Nothing.

You can learn more about the five shortlisted books below.

Wild People Quiet is a novel by Tara Gereaux. (Chris Graham, Scribner Canada)In Wild People Quiet, set in Saskatchewan in the 1940s, a Métis woman named Florence is hiding her true identity while living in a primarily white town, dyeing her hair blonde and doing what she can to blend in. When she meets a group of Métis farm workers in town for the season, she's forced to come to terms with her hidden past and must decide how she wants to move forward.

"A stunning exploration of colonial trauma, self-acceptance and the sacredness of community, Wild People Quiet follows an agonized Florence forced to choose between the community that birthed her and the life that she has built for herself," wrote the jury in a statement.

"An intimate and resonant tale filled with quiet intensity, Wild People Quiet invites readers to reflect on their own family histories, the parts of themselves they choose to hide and the hardships that have made them stronger."

Gereaux, a citizen of the Metis Nation-Saskatchewan, lives in Regina. She is also the author of Saltus and Size of a Fist.

Eliza Sunshine is a novel by Michelle Good. (Random House Canada, Delmar Photography)Eliza Sunshine is a family saga following three generations of Cree women: Eliza Sunshine, her Nôhkom, Swan, and her daughter, Ella. As the three of them face suffering and adversity in different ways, from violent contact with settlers to residential school, they stay grounded in telling their stories and staying true to themselves, while recognizing that freedom doesn’t have the same meaning to everyone. 

"Lovingly written to evoke a rich oral storytelling tradition, Eliza Sunshine guides readers through memories of adversity and triumph, illustrating the power of storytelling as a means of healing and overcoming struggle," wrote the jury.

"Drawing heavily from the author’s own family history, Eliza Sunshine is a masterful, deeply personal snapshot of a tragic chapter of Canadian history, navigating readers with unflinching honesty through a story of hope and strength."

Good is a Cree author and a member of the Red Pheasant Cree Nation in Saskatchewan. Her debut novel, Five Little Indians, won Canada Reads 2022, when it was championed by fashion journalist Christian Allaire. It also won the Governor General’s Literary Award for fiction, the Amazon First Novel Award and the Rakuten Kobo Emerging Writer Prize. Good is also the author of the nonfiction book Truth Telling.

Your Breath in Charcoal is a novel by Nicholas Herring. (Norma Jean MacLean, Goose Lane Editions)In Your Breath in Charcoal, Knickle, an Islander with no direction, is tasked with picking up an acquaintance’s brother from a mental health hospital in northern New Brunswick. When he gets there, the two decide to take this opportunity to go west and see if they can make a life in the big city of Toronto.

"Your Breath in Charcoal is a deeply philosophical narrative filled with pop culture references, literary allusions and mordant, quotable witticisms," wrote the jury. "With Knickle’s distinctive voice at its centre, Your Breath in Charcoal is a character study of a young man learning how to live his life, facing the complexities of the modern world in a riotously funny working-class odyssey filled with love, loss and profound hope."

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Herring is an author, fisherman and carpenter based in Murray Harbour, P.E.I. His debut novel, Some Hellish, won the Atwood Gibson Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize. 

The Small Ones is a novel by Nazanine Hozar. (Knopf Canada, Laura Pak)The Small Ones is a novel about a group of boys and one small girl who are forced to become soldiers and martyrs in the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s. The ragtag bunch find friendship and community in each other, even as they desperately hope to return home and back to safety. 

"Using an intricate three-part structure, The Small Ones shifts the question in readers’ minds from what will happen to these children to how these children arrived in their circumstances, confronting us with the toll that war takes on the world’s most innocent citizens," wrote the jury.

"Restrained in its telling yet expansive in its meaning, The Small Ones transforms the experiences of children caught in conflict into a deeply affecting examination of sacrifice, power, survival and the enduring humanity of those whom society deems expendable."

Hozar is also the author of the novel Aria. She lives in Vancouver and teaches at Simon Fraser University. 

Good People is a novel by Patmeena Sabit. (Crown, David Change Photography)Good People is a novel that follows the Sharaf family, who have finally achieved the American dream. They arrived years ago as refugees and worked hard to live in the fancy neighbourhood and send their kids to the best schools. But when a horrific tragedy befalls the family, people begin to wonder what is actually happening behind closed doors.

"Instead of telling their own story, it is left to a rotating cast of relatives, neighbours, friends and even strangers to account for the Sharaf family’s movements and motivations, chronicling the Sharafs’ rise to success from desperate, distrusted refugees to members of the wealthy and exclusive gated community of Virginia," said the jury.

"Using these observers to speculate on the pressures and dynamics endured by an immigrant family, Sabit ultimately leaves it to the reader to determine what has brought the Sharaf clan such scrutiny and attention. Are they victims of a tragic accident? Or are they the perpetrators of a terrible crime?"

Sabit is an author born in Kabul who currently lives in Toronto. Good People is her debut novel. It won the 2026 Westport Prize for Literature.