TORONTO — Order of Canada member Michelle Good is among the five finalists for Canada’s richest fiction award. The Giller Prize announced the short list for the prestigious award on Monday. Good is nominated for “Eliza Sunshine,” a multi-generational family saga that follows three generations of Cree women and the storytelling tradition that connects them. The Cree author, lawyer and activist had previously been longlisted for her 2020 novel, “Five Little Indians.” Also shortlisted are Tara Gereaux for “Wild People Quiet” which explores the repercussions of a woman’s decision to hide her Métis identity while living in a small prairie town in the 1940s and Nazanine Hozar for “The Small Ones,” which is about children caught up in a military insurgence along the Iran–Iraq border in the early 1980s. Rounding out the contenders are Nicholas Herring for “Your Breath in Charcoal” and Patmeena Sabit for “Good People.” The Giller Prize is Canada’s largest award for a work of fiction, handing out $100,000 to the winner and $10,000 to the finalists. A nine-member jury panel of independent booksellers representing all five regions of Canada selected this year’s short list. This year’s Giller Prize is set to be awarded on Nov. 16 during a televised ceremony. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 5, 2026. Kaitlyn McGrath, The Canadian Press
