The 2026 Giller Prize winner will be announced on Monday, November 16. The CBC ceremony starts at 9 p.m. ET, and the prize organizers say they’ll share the winner’s name at 10 p.m. ET. Five novels are up for the Canadian fiction award, which comes with C$100,000 for the winning author.
Historical fiction is usually where I start on an awards shortlist, so I’d put Tara Gereaux’s Wild People Quiet and Michelle Good’s Eliza Sunshine at the top of my reading list. For a book club, I’d give Patmeena Sabit’s Good People the first look. A novel that lets outsiders tell a family’s story gives everyone at the table a reason to compare whose version they believed.
The five novels shortlisted for the 2026 Giller Prize
Nine independent booksellers made up this year’s jury. The five finalists were announced on October 5, following a 14-book longlist in September. Here’s what each novel is about and where I’d start based on what you like to read.
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Wild People Quiet by Tara Gereaux
In 1946 Saskatchewan, Florence Banks has built a life in a predominantly white town where people assume she is white. When she learns of plans to drive Métis people off their land, Florence has to decide what she owes the community she grew up in and what she’s willing to risk by speaking up. I’d start here if you like historical fiction that puts one person’s choices under the pressure of a much larger injustice.
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Eliza Sunshine by Michelle Good
Eliza returns from residential school to her grandmother Swan, who shares stories about the women who came before them. Years later, Eliza faces a different question when her daughter Ella openly embraces the Cree identity Eliza has spent years trying to shield her from being punished for. This is my pick if you like family sagas where generations disagree about what it means to protect one another.
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Your Breath in Charcoal by Nicholas Herring
Knickle leaves Prince Edward Island to pick up an acquaintance’s brother in northern New Brunswick. The errand turns into a road trip to Toronto, where he gets a chance to imagine a different life for himself. Start here if the voice of the person telling the story matters as much to you as where the road leads.
Find Your Breath in Charcoal on Amazon!
The Small Ones by Nazanine Hozar
Hozar’s novel follows children drawn into fighting along the Iran–Iraq border in the early 1980s. They form a makeshift family as adults press them into roles they’re too young to choose. I’d pick this one if you’re drawn to wartime fiction that stays close to what children see, understand and do for one another.
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Good People by Patmeena Sabit
After a tragedy draws attention to the Sharaf family, relatives, neighbors and other observers offer competing versions of what happened. The shifting accounts put readers in the uncomfortable position of having to decide how much they can infer about a family from the people watching it. My first book club question would be simple. Which narrator did you trust first, and what made you change your mind?
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How to watch the 2026 Giller Prize ceremony
Rick Mercer hosts the Toronto ceremony on Monday, November 16, at 9 p.m. ET. The Giller Prize lists CBC TV, CBC Gem and CBC’s YouTube channel for viewing. CBC Radio and CBC Listen will carry a broadcast special. If you’re only looking for the result, the organizers plan to release the winner’s name at 10 p.m. ET.
What does the Giller Prize recognize?
Founded in 1994 by Jack Rabinovitch and named for literary journalist Doris Giller, the award recognizes Canadian fiction published in English. Novels, graphic novels and short story collections are eligible. The winning author receives C$100,000, and the other shortlisted authors each receive C$10,000. Last year, Souvankham Thammavongsa won for Pick a Colour.
More book award coverage from Books of Brilliance. Read about the 2026 Booker Prize winner.
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