Alumna Souvankham Thammavongsa wins the Giller Prize

University of Toronto alumna Souvankham Thammavongsa is the winner of the 2020 Scotiabank Giller Prize for her short story collection, How to Pronounce Knife.

The book is on Time magazine’s list of 100 Must-Read Books of 2020 and was named one of the best books of spring 2020 by The New York Times, Salon, the Millions and Vogue. It’s the first short story collection for Thammavongsa, who earned her bachelor of arts from the Faculty of Arts & Science in 2003 as a member of New College. She is also the author of four books of poetry: the 2013 Trillium Book Award for Poetry winner, Light; Found; Cluster; and Small Arguments, the 2004 winner of the ReLit Award, which she wrote while an undergraduate student at U of T.

In an interview with Arts & Science News, Thammavongsa talked about what it was like to major in English literature at U of T.

“I went to the best school in the country, and that made me so confident,” Thammavongsa said. “I wanted to be a writer and I thought, why don’t I just write?

Read the U of T News story