The Sunburst Award for Excellence in Canadian Literature of the Fantastic is a juried award which recognizes exceptional writing in three categories: adult, young adult and short story. The awards are presented each fall to the best Canadian speculative fiction novel, book-length collection, or short story published any time during the previous calendar year.
Named after the first novel by Phyllis Gotlieb (1926–2009), one of the first celebrated writers of contemporary Canadian science fiction, the award is a cash prize of $1,000 for each of the Adult and Young Adult categories, and of $500 for the short story category. All three awards are presented with the distinctive Sunburst medallion. The awards are presented in the fall of each year.
Dr. Helen Marshall’s short story “Caro in Carno” [The Mammoth Book of Cthulhu, Constable-Robinson UK & Running Press US] has been short-listed for this prestigious award.
The full short-list includes:
SHORT STORY
- K.T. Bryski, “La Corriveau” [Strange Horizons, October 2016]
- James Alan Gardner, “The Dog and the Sleepwalker” [Strangers Among Us, Laksa Media Groups Inc.]
- Helen Marshall, “Caro in Carno” [The Mammoth Book of Cthulhu, Constable-Robinson UK & Running Press US]
- A.C. Wise, “The Men from Narrow Houses” [Liminal Stories, #1]
- A.C. Wise, “The Sailing of the Henry Charles Morgan in Six Pieces of Scrimshaw (1841)” [The Dark, #14]
ADULT FICTION
- Claire Humphrey, Spells of Blood and Kin [Thomas Dunne Books]
- Ami McKay, The Witches of New York [Knopf Canada]
- Sylvain Neuvel, Sleeping Giants [Del Rey]
- Jo Walton, Necessity [Tor Books]
- Robert Charles Wilson, Last Year [Tor Books]
YOUNG ADULT FICTION
- Jonathan Auxier, Sophie Quire and the Last Storyguard [Puffin Canada]
- Lena Coakley, Worlds of Ink and Shadow [HarperCollins]
- Marina Cohen, The Inn Between [Roaring Brook Press]
- Catherine Egan, Julia Vanishes [Doubleday Canada]
- Ian Donald Keeling, The Skids [ChiTeen]
This year’s shortlists again highlight the eclecticism to be found in today’s Canadian literature of the fantastic. Although the majority of those shortlisted are making their Sunburst Award debut, there are a number of return writers: Jonathan Auxier, James Alan Garner, Jo Walton (twice before) and Robert Charles Wilson have all been shortlisted before; in fact Robert Charles Wilson’s work has been shortlisted an unprecedented seven times.
The jurors for the 2017 award are Nancy Baker, Michel Basilières, Rebecca Bradley, Dominick Grace, and Sean Moreland.
Sunburst Award winners will be announced in Fall 2017.
