Dionne Irving to chair 2025 Giller Prize jury
Canadian author Dionne Irving has been selected to chair the 2025 Giller Prize jury, a prestigious literary award in Canada that boasts a $100,000 prize, making it the largest in Canadian literature. Hailing from Mississauga, Ontario, Irving currently serves as a creative writing professor at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana. Her literary accomplishments include being shortlisted for the 2023 Scotiabank Giller Prize for her debut short story collection, “The Islands,” which also received recognition from the PEN/Faulkner Award, the New American Voices Award, and the Clara Johnson Award. In addition, Irving released her first novel, “Quint,” in 2021 and has been featured in esteemed journals and magazines such as LitHub, Missouri Review, and New Delta Review.
Joining Irving on the jury panel for the 2025 Giller Prize are esteemed writers and critics including Jordan Abel, Loghan Paylor, Deepa Rajagopalan, and Aaron Tucker. Abel, a Nisga’a writer, recently clinched the 2024 Governor General’s Literary Award for fiction and the 2024 Amazon First Novel Award for his novel “Empty Spaces.” With a string of poetry collections under his belt, including “The Place of Scraps” and “Injun,” which won the Griffin Poetry Prize, Abel’s literary prowess is undeniable. Furthermore, his memoir, “Nishga,” has been recognized with accolades such as the Hubert Evans Non-Fiction Prize and the VMI Betsy Warland Between Genres Award.
Paylor, a queer and trans author originally from Ontario but currently based in Abbotsford, British Columbia, has made waves with their debut novel, “The Cure for Drowning,” which earned a spot on the longlist for the 2024 Giller Prize and was named a Globe and Mail Best Book of 2024. Armed with an MA in creative writing from the University of British Columbia, Paylor’s short fiction and essays have been featured in reputable publications like Room and Prairie Fire.
Rajagopalan, the 2021 RBC/PEN Canada New Voices Award winner, is known for her debut short story collection, “Peacocks of Instagram,” which was shortlisted for the 2024 Giller Prize. Born to Indian parents in Saudi Arabia and having lived across India, the United States, and Canada, Rajagopalan brings a diverse perspective to the jury panel. Similarly, Tucker, a prolific writer with seven books to his name, including “Hunters, Not Cowboys” and “Y: Oppenheimer,” has garnered recognition for his academic work, winning the Governor General’s Gold Medal. Currently serving as an assistant professor at Memorial University in St. John’s, Tucker’s writing has been longlisted for the CBC Nonfiction Prize.
The 2025 Giller Prize will mark the 32nd anniversary of the esteemed award, with books published between October 1, 2024, and September 30, 2025, eligible for consideration. The longlist, shortlist, and eventual winner will be unveiled in the fall, continuing the tradition established by founder Jack Rabinovitch in honor of his late wife, Doris Giller. Previous winners of the Giller Prize include literary luminaries such as Margaret Atwood, Esi Edugyan, and Ian Williams, showcasing the caliber of talent recognized by this prestigious award. As the literary world eagerly anticipates the announcement of the 2025 Giller Prize winner, the virtual book club featuring the 2024 longlisted writers offers an immersive experience for literature enthusiasts to delve into the works of some of Canada’s finest authors.
