These are the finalists for the Amazon Canada First Novel Award

Books line shelves at the North York Central Library in Toronto on Friday, February 23, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young

TORONTO — “Endling” author Maria Reva and “Small Ceremonies” writer Kyle Edwards are among the finalists for this year’s Amazon Canada First Novel Award.

Last year, Reva took home the Atwood Gibson Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize for her novel about the Ukrainian bride business and Russia’s invasion of that country, and Edwards won the Governor General’s Literary Award for Fiction for his book about a team of Indigenous hockey players from north-end Winnipeg.

Also in the running for the $60,000 award, now in its 50th year, is Kate Cayley for “Property,” which takes place over the course of a single day in a gentrifying Toronto neighbourhood.

Jon Claytor is a finalist for his graphic novel “Nowhere,” about a 12-year-old boy who moves to a small town where zombies and monsters are commonplace.

Rounding out the short list are Antonio Michael Downing, host of CBC Radio’s “The Next Chapter,” for his novel “Black Cherokee” about a mixed-race Black girl fighting for a Cherokee community in South Carolina to recognize her ancestry, and Ben Ladouceur for “I Remember Lights,” about gay life in Montreal in the 1960s and ’70s.

The prize will be handed out at a ceremony in Toronto on June 4.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 6, 2026.

Nicole Thompson, The Canadian Press