American-born Canadian author Carol Shields is best known for award winning novels The Stone Diaries (1993), Larry's Party (1997), Unless (2002) although she also wrote plays, short stories and non-fiction. In 2023 an award was created in her memory to 'celebrate creativity and excellence in fiction by women and non-binary writers in Canada and the United States.' Past winners were:
- 2025 - Code Noir by Canisia Lubrin
- 2024 - Brotherless Night by VV Ganeshananthan
- 2023 - When We Were Sisters by Fatimah Asghar
Now in its fourth year, the longlist has been revealed with the following titles:
- The Edge of Water by Olufunke Grace Bankole
- Sea, Poison by Caren Beilin
- milktooth by Jaime Burnet
- Suddenly Light by Nina Dunic
- Canticle by Janet Rich Edwards
- Hellions by Julia Elliott
- Casualties of Truth by Lauren Francis-Sharma
- The White Hot by Quiara Alegría Hudes
- Audition by Katie Kitamura
- Cannon by Lee Lai
- Wild Life by Amanda Leduc
- A Guardian and a Thief by Megha Majumdar
- The Morgue Keeper by Ruyan Meng
- The Sea Gives Up the Dead by Molly Olguín
- Lion by Sonya Walger
Of these books, the ones I am most likely to read are the novels by Kitamura and Majumdar which have also been longlisted for the 2026 Women's Prize for Fiction.
The shortlist will be revealed on 21 April 2026 and the winner on 2 June 2026 at a ceremony in Toronto. The winner received $150,000 USD while the four shortlisted finalist receive $12,500 each. If the winner is translated, the author receives $100,000 USD and the translator $50,000.