On March 10, The Carol Shields Prize for Fiction, celebrating creativity and excellence in fiction by women and non-binary writers in the United States and Canada, announced its 2026 longlist. Among the 15 featured novels, short story collections, and graphic novels is Sonya Walger's debut novel Lion (New York Review Books). Lauded by Susie Boyt as "breathtaking... dreamlike and courageous, brimming with glamour and disastrous scarcities," Lion is a work autobiographical fiction about the relationship between an actress daughter and her larger-than-life father.
The Carol Shields Prize for Fiction shortlist will be announced April 21, and the winner will be named on June 2 at a grand prize at a ceremony in Toronto. The winner will awarded $150,000.