The first time was a charm for Yasuko Thanh, who won the $25,000 Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize on Wednesday for her debut novel Mysterious Fragrance of the Yellow Mountains. The award is second only to the Scotiabank Giller Prize as the most lucrative for Canadian literary fiction in Canada, tied with the Governor General’s Literary Award. “It’s hard to believe this is a debut novel,” said jury member Lauren B. Davis, whose novel The Radiant City was a finalist for the Writers’ Trust in 2005. The latter three nominees were also shortlisted for the Governor General’s Award, which went to Margaret Thien’s Do Not Say We Have Nothing. Thien has been the breakout star of the Canadian literary prize season, also appearing on the short list for the Booker Prize, yet her novel was not nominated by the Writer’s Trust.

Source: thestar November 03, 2016 01:01 UTC