Writers' Trust of Canada - 50 Years
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Madeleine Thien

Madeleine Thien is the author of five books, including the novels Dogs at the Perimeter, Do Not Say We Have Nothing, and The Book of Records. Her work has been shortlisted for the Booker Prize, the Women’s Prize for Fiction, and the Folio Prize, and has received a Governor General’s Literary Award and the Writers’ Trust Engel Findley Award. Thien’s novels have been translated into twenty-five languages. Her essays and stories have appeared in The New Yorker, Granta, Times Literary Supplement, and The New York Review of Books. She lives in Montreal.

Writers & Books

Award History

2024 - Winner

Writers’ Trust Engel Findley Award

Jury Citation

“Madeleine Thien’s acclaimed body of work is nothing short of masterful. Seamlessly blending history and imagination, Thien’s narratives span generations, vast distances, and richly drawn casts of characters. Whether navigating the most intimate moments of love and loss or the dramatic stages of war and political oppression, Thien’s prose brims with sensitivity and compassion, illuminating vivid imagery and sparking insights that continue to resonate long after reading. It’s clear that Thien treats every sentence with the utmost care; the apparent ease with which her writing moves is a striking testament to her extraordinary command of the literary craft. We are in awe of the humanity and generosity that anchors all of her writing thus far, and we are eager to see what she gifts readers next.” —2024 Writers’ Trust Engel Findley Award jury (Wayne Arthurson, Corinna Chong, and Phil Halton)

Juror History

Works Recognized by WT