Canisia Lubrin and Eric Chacour are on the shortlist of Canada’s Atwood Gibson Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize 2024 announced on September 25, 2024.
The Atwood Gibson Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize, formerly the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize, is a Canadian literary award presented by the Writers’ Trust of Canada after an annual juried competition of works submitted by publishers. Alongside the Governor General’s Award for English-language fiction and the Giller Prize, it is considered one of the three main awards for Canadian fiction in English. Its eligibility criteria allow for it to garland collections of short stories as well as novels; works that were originally written and published in French are also eligible for the award when they appear in English translation.
The 2024 jury of fiction writers Saeed Teebi, Joan Thomas, and Uchechukwu Peter Umezurike looked at the 139 titles submitted by 70 publishing imprints and selected the finalists. From these, the following writers of African descent made the cut;
- Code Noir, Canisia Lubrin, (Knopf Canada)
Jury Citation “A collection that is profound and inveterately inventive, Code Noir expands what is possible in the realm of narrative. With purposeful defiance, Lubrin writes stories that cut effortlessly across eras and continents with the Black diaspora, within and against a history of institutionalized violence and oppression. She pushes against the laws governing what words can and can’t do, emerging finally with a sharp-edged language that is entirely sui generis. Lubrin’s work is conceptual genius, allusive across a wide swath of culture, from jazz to literature to art. Code Noir is a singular achievement.”
—2024 Atwood Gibson WT Fiction Prize jury (Saeed Teebi, Joan Thomas, and Uchechukwu Peter Umezurike)
- What I Know About You, Éric Chacour Translated by Pablo Strauss, (Coach House Books)
Jury Citation “What I Know About You announces Chacour as a storyteller of rare ability: deeply emotional in his substance, elegant and restrained in his style. Chacour is a master of perspective and careful revelation. In his hands, this story about taboo love and a family’s legacy overflows with crushing beauty as it grips readers in its world. What I Know About You is cruel and tender, surprising and inexorable, delicate and overwhelming, necessary and timeless. It is a story that is unlikely to be forgotten.”
—2024 Atwood Gibson WT Fiction Prize jury (Saeed Teebi, Joan Thomas, and Uchechukwu Peter Umezurike)
The winner who goes home with Canadian $60,000 will be announced at the annual Writers’ Trust Awards on November 19.
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