Congratulations to Penguin Random House Canada's Giller Prize Longlisters
The 2026 Giller Prize longlist has just been announced, and Penguin Random House Canada has four incredible titles in the running for Canada’s most prestigious literary prize! The all-bookseller jury called the list “an extraordinary collection from which Canadians can discover themselves.”
The Giller Prize is focused on highlighting the very best of Canadian fiction published in English. It is the richest literary prize in Canada, awarding $100,000 to the winner and $10,000 to each of the finalists. The shortlist will be announced on October 5, and the winner will be announced on November 16.
First up, from Random House Canada, Michelle Good’s ELIZA SUNSHINE, edited by Anne Collins. Just on sale this summer, this powerful family saga has already been a national bestseller and has been praised as “a gripping ode and elegy” and “a should-read for those who want to know more and a must-read for First Nations so we never forget.” Michelle Good’s previous novel FIVE LITTLE INDIANS won the Governor General’s Literary Award for Fiction, the Amazon First Novel Award, the Rakuten Kobo Emerging Writer Prize, and CBC’s Canada Reads, and was nominated for the Atwood Gibson Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize and the Giller Prize.
In the first of two titles from Knopf Canada, we have THE SMALL ONES by Nazanine Hozar, edited by Lynn Henry. While not on sale until September 29, this extraordinary novel about children caught up in a military insurgence along the Iran-Iraq border has already been praised as “masterfully written” and “a wondrous literary novel.” Nazanine Hozar’s first novel ARIA was a national bestseller and was shortlisted for the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize and the Amazon Canada First Novel Award and praised as “an impressive fiction debut” and “a must-read book.”
And second from Knopf Canada is Wayne Johnston’s THE NOVICE OF HOLLOWAY HALL, edited by Kiara Kent. The sweeping tragicomic saga has been praised as “both a joy and a heartbreaker” and full of “witty punning and ironic commentary.” No stranger to the Giller list, Wayne Johnston has twice been shortlisted for his novels THE COLONY OF UNREQUITED DREAMS and THE NAVIGATOR OF NEW YORK, both of which were also shortlisted for the Governor General’s Award. In 2011, Wayne was awarded the Writers’ Trust Engel Findley Award and has been praised as “brilliant” and “a literary giant who has God-given talent.”
And finally from our colleagues at Crown, we have GOOD PEOPLE by Patmeena Sabit, edited by Amy Einhorn. Named one of The New Yorker’s best books of 2026 so far, GOOD PEOPLE, a story told through a kaleidoscope of perspectives about a family thrust into the court of public opinion, has been praised as “a thrilling tour de force of a novel” and “utterly addictive.” Already a national bestseller, GOOD PEOPLE is Patmeena Sabit’s debut novel.
Please join us in heartily congratulating Michelle Good, Nazanine Hozar, Wayne Johnston, and Patmeena Sabit on these incredible novels and to Anne Collins, Lynn Henry, Kiara Kent, Amy Einhorn, and everyone at Random House Canada, Knopf Canada, and Crown!
For the full longlist, details on this year’s first-ever bookseller jury, and more on the prize, visit the Giller Prize’s website here.