Linda Rui Feng longlisted for 2021 Scotiabank Giller Prize

Associate Professor Linda Rui Feng of the department of East Asian studies in the Faculty of Arts & Science has been longlisted for the 2021 Scotiabank Giller Prize for her debut novel Swimming Back to Trout River.

Published by Simon & Schuster, the book is set against the backdrop of China’s cultural revolution and tells the story of a husband and wife who move to  the United States, leaving their daughter behind with her grandparents in China. Kirkus Reviews described it as “filled with tragedy yet touched with life-affirming passion.”

A recipient of the Chancellor Jackman Research Fellowship in the Humanities from the Jackman Humanities Institute, Feng is currently working on a cultural history of aromatics in late medieval China.

Feng is one of 12 authors whose books are longlisted for the prestigious $100,000 prize, which recognizes the best in Canadian fiction. Other members of the U of T community who made the list include Governor General’s Award-winning author Miriam Toews, the University of Toronto Scarborough’s inaugural writer-in-residence, who was nominated for Fight Night, published by Knopf Canada.

Em, written by Governor General’s Award-winning author Kim Thuy and translated by alumna Sheila Fischman, was also named to the list. A Member of the Order of Canada, Fischman has translated more than 150 works of Quebec contemporary fiction from French to English.

The announcement of the longlist was hosted by alumna Souvankham Thammavongsa, who won the prestigious award last year for her book, How to Pronounce Knife.