Canisia Lubrin wins 2025 Carol Shields Prize for Fiction

Canisia Lubrin has won the 2025 Carol Shields Prize for Fiction for her debut fiction work, Code Noir, a collection of 59 linked stories inspired by the 17th-century "Black Code" that defined the conditions of slavery in the French empire. The prize, which awards $150,000 and a five-night residency at Fogo Island Inn, is the largest English-language literary award for women and non-binary writers from the U.S. and Canada. The jury praised Lubrin's 'polyphonic' prose, highlighting how Code Noir invites readers into multi-layered landscapes that confront suffering, history, and transformation, retuning the legacies of slavery, colonialism, and violence. Lubrin's win marks the first time a Canadian writer has received the award, and her book was also recognized as a finalist for the 2024 Atwood Gibson Writers' Trust Fiction Prize. Other shortlisted authors included Dominique Fortier, Miranda July, Sarah Manguso, and Aube Rey Lescure. The Carol Shields Prize aims to elevate the visibility of women and non-binary authors in North American fiction.