Writer Julia Elliott has won this year's Carol Shields Prize for Fiction for her short story collection Hellions. The award honors work by women and nonbinary authors in the U.S. and Canada.
Elliott, who also authored the novel The New and Improved Romie Futch and the short story collection The Wilds, is known for blending elements of Southern gothic horror, surrealism and fairy tale. Hellions, published in 2025, includes stories set against backdrops like a plague-stricken medieval convent, a feminist art colony, and small Southern towns.
"This eerie, eclectic, genre-leaping collection takes no half-measures; every sentence of Hellions crackles or crawls," wrote the prize jury in a statement. "Here, human folly moves against a backdrop of horror and magic 鈥� But for all its wildness, there is tremendous control."
The prize, named after , awards $150,000 to one winner each year. Novels, short story collections, and graphic novels by women and nonbinary authors are eligible.
This year's finalists included Quiara Alegri虂a Hudes (), Lee Lai (), Megha Majumdar (), and Sonya Walger (Lion). They will each receive $12,500.
The Carol Shields Prize went to in 2025.
You can listen to actor Donna Lynne Champlin read Elliott's story "Hellion" .
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