SASKATCHEWAN — Two Saskatchewan authors are among five finalists for the 2026 Scotiabank Giller Prize, earning national recognition for novels that explore Indigenous identity, family history and the lasting effects of Canada’s past.
Regina-based Métis author Tara Gereaux was shortlisted for "Wild People Quiet", while Michelle Good, a member of Red Pheasant Cree Nation and an Order of Canada recipient, earned a place for "Eliza Sunshine".
The winner will receive $100,000 when the prize is awarded in Toronto on Nov. 16. The other four finalists will each receive $10,000.
For Good, the recognition carries a significance that goes beyond the prize itself.
“It's almost heart-stopping. It's just phenomenal, and it's very, very satisfying,” she said. “To be shortlisted for the Giller is, you know, it's kind of a once-in-a-lifetime thing.”
Good said the response to her work has been rewarding, but the shortlist brings another kind of validation.
Her novel "Eliza Sunshine" follows three generations of Cree women, drawing on the life of her own mother, who was born in 1921.
“After surviving residential schools and a tuberculosis sanatorium, she managed to find her way to New Zealand to train as an obstetrical nurse because at that time it was still illegal for Indigenous people to get an education beyond grade nine,” Good said.
The novel moves across generations, with each woman telling her story to the next. For Good, that structure connects personal experience to a wider history of colonialism and Indigenous resilience.
She said Canada must confront that history more honestly if reconciliation is to advance.
“Until Canadians can perceive our history through an Indigenous lens, right through, looking at it as the experience of Indigenous people, we're not going to be able to get further on reconciliation,” Good said. “It just won't happen.”
Good’s work has reached readers through her award-winning debut novel, "Five Little Indians", and her nonfiction book "Truth Telling". She said readers have told her how profoundly they were affected by learning about residential schools and histories they had not previously understood.
“The consistent and persistent theme through all of those emails is shock,” she said, describing readers’ reactions to "Five Little Indians". “At how little they knew and how their lives are changed by what they now know.”
Gereaux’s shortlisted novel also looks to the past to understand the present. Set in rural Saskatchewan in 1946, "Wild People Quiet" follows Florence Banks, a Métis woman passing as white whose life is threatened by government land displacement.
Gereaux said she was surprised to make the shortlist after already being astonished by her place on the longlist.
“I honestly did not think that I would be on the short list,” she said. “So it's an incredible feeling.”
The novel grew out of Gereaux’s desire to understand Métis history, including parts of her own family’s past that she had not learned in school. She was particularly interested in the experiences of Métis women, whose roles in preserving culture can receive less attention than those of men.
“There's a real history of many Métis people kind of hiding their identity,” Gereaux said. “And so I really wanted to look to explore that, and I wanted to do so through a woman.”
Her central character, Florence, is also a beadworker, reflecting the importance of beading in Métis culture. Gereaux chose 1946 in part because it was a significant period for Métis communities, as soldiers returned from the Second World War.
While researching the novel, Gereaux discovered a photograph of her grandfather’s grandfather and her grandfather’s uncles, two of whom had served in the war. The discovery deepened her determination to tell a story connected to a history she was still learning herself.
“One of the reasons why I wanted to write the novel is because I didn't know that history,” she said. “I wasn't taught that history when I was going to school.”
Gereaux consulted the Gabriel Dumont Institute and worked with Métis cultural advisor Wilfred Burton to help ensure she portrayed the culture appropriately. She said the writing process ultimately strengthened her own connection to her heritage.
“Through the writing of this book, ultimately it just made me feel more connected to my culture,” she said.
For both writers, the shortlist also shines a national spotlight on Saskatchewan’s literary talent. Gereaux said the response to her novel has reached far beyond the audience she initially expected, with readers across Canada showing interest in a story she thought might mainly resonate on the Prairies and the West Coast.
“Saskatchewan has always kind of punched its weight when it comes to not just its authors, but its artists in general,” she said. “I think we're a province full of incredibly talented artists, whether that's visual art or literary art.”
This year’s shortlist was selected by a nine-member panel made up entirely of independent Canadian booksellers, a first for the prize. The five finalists were chosen from a longlist of 14 books announced in September.
For Gereaux, the national attention matters most if it encourages readers to discover more writers from the province.
“I hope it means that more people read more Saskatchewan writers,” she said. “Honestly, there's so much here, so many amazing books.”
