Author Julia Elliott has won the 2026 Carol Shields Prize for Fiction for Hellions, her short story collection published in 2025, per npr.org.
The $150,000 award recognises fiction by women and nonbinary writers in the US and Canada.
The prize jury announced the winner June 2, calling Hellions an “eerie, eclectic, genre-leaping collection” in which “every sentence crackles or crawls.” Set against backdrops including a plague-stricken medieval convent, a feminist art colony, and small Southern towns, the stories blend Southern gothic horror, surrealism, and fairy tale.
Elliott previously wrote the novel The New and Improved Romie Futch and the short story collection The Wilds.
Named for Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Carol Shields, the annual award is open to novels, short story collections and graphic novels by women and nonbinary authors. The winner receives $150,000.
This year’s finalists were Quiara Alegría Hudes for The White Hot, Lee Lai for Cannon, Megha Majumdar for A Guardian and a Thief, and Sonya Walger for Lion. Each finalist receives $12,500.
Canisia Lubrin won the prize in 2025.
Actor Donna Lynne Champlin reads Elliott’s story “Hellion” on the Death, Sex & Money podcast.
The Carol Shields Prize for Fiction was established to address gender equity in literary awards. Since its launch, it has become one of the largest literary prizes for women and nonbinary writers in North America.
•Featured image: Julia Elliott/Forrest Clonts/Tin House
