2025 Thomas Raddall Atlantic Fiction Prize Finalists
The Thomas Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award has been recognizing outstanding Atlantic fiction since 1991.
The Thomas Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award has been recognizing outstanding Atlantic fiction since 1991 when the endowment for the award was begun by Thomas Head Raddall himself. Since then, the award has continued to be funded by the Raddall family and has risen from its original $5000 to today's $30,000 prize, making it one of the most lucrative literary prizes in Canada. As its original benefactor envisioned, the prize money helps to provide its winner with "the gift of time and peace of mind."
Past winners include Michelle Porter, Michelle Butler Hallett, Michael Crummey, Lisa Moore, Anne Simpson, and Donna Morrissey. Explore more past winners and nominees here.
This year's finalists are:
Carol Bruneau, Threshold, Nimbus Publishing
Charlene Carr, We Rip the World Apart, Harper Collins Canada (Link: Toronto Star review)
David Huebert, Oil People, McClelland & Stewart (Link: Review at Consumed by Ink)
Susie Taylor, Vigil, Breakwater Books (Link: A “Hot Take” review)
Mark Blagrave, Felt, Cormorant Books
This is not Carol Bruneau’s first experience as a nominee for the Raddall Award. She was shortlisted in 2018 for her short story collection A Bird on Every Tree, and her novel Purple for Sky was the winner in 2001. Threshold upholds Bruneau’s talent for thoughtful stories written with compassion, humour, and attention to detail.
This may be Susie Taylor’s first time on the Raddall Award shortlist, but Vigil has already earned the honour of winning the 2024 Winterset Award as well as being shortlisted for the Alistair MacLeod Prize for Short Fiction. Written with heart and hope, Vigil is an excellent collection of linked stories set in the fictional town of Bay Mal Verde, a town struggling with addiction, violence, and poverty.
Charlene Carr’s We Rip the World Apart is nominated for both the Raddall Award and the Dartmouth Book Award for Fiction. It is a timely story about racism in Canada as seen through the lens of a family who has lost a loved one to police violence. With care and dedication, Carr has written a thought-provoking page-turner that is sure to be as popular as her 2024 Raddall-nominated book Hold My Girl.
Oil People is David Huebert’s first novel, but he is also the author of two short story collections and a poetry collection, all of which have won or been nominated for various awards, including the Raddall Award and the Alistair MacLeod Award for Short Fiction. Oil People is a novel about the oil industry’s past and present; it is full of dirt and mud and illness and oil. David Huebert has the remarkable ability to take this grim setting and turn it into a beautiful and atmospheric novel.
This is Mark Blagrave’s first time on the Raddall shortlist, but his previous novel Lay Figures has been shortlisted for the Dublin Literary Award. Set in St. Andrew’s, New Brunswick, Felt braids together three generations of timelines and perspectives, creating an engaging portrait of a family and their secrets.
Congratulations to all the finalists!
Be sure to check out all the Atlantic Book Awards on the website. You can also cast your vote for the Readers’ Choice Award; the votes will be tallied, and the winner announced at the gala on June 5th. Find the link to vote as well as a listing of other festival events here.
About the Contributor
Naomi MacKinnon lives in Nova Scotia with her husband, three kids, a dog, three cats, and a bunny. She works in the children's department at the beautiful Truro Public Library where she loves to read all the picture books and play with the puppets. She blogs about (mostly) Canadian and Atlantic Canadian books at Consumed by Ink.
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