The 2020 longlist for the Sunburst Award for Excellence in Canadian Literature of the Fantastic was announced today.

The Sunburst Award for Excellence in Canadian Literature of the Fantastic is an annual award celebrating the best in Canadian fantastika published during the previous calendar year. Winners receive a medallion that incorporates the Sunburst logo. Winners of both the Adult and Young Adult Sunburst Award also receive a cash prize of $1,000, while winners of the Short Story Award receive a cash prize of $500.

The Sunburst official shortlist will be announced in July. Sunburst winners will be announced in September.

Jurors for the 2020 Award are: Peter Darbyshire , Kristyn Dunnion, Omar El Akkad, Michelle Butler Hallett,  John Jantunen, Michael Johnstone, Ursula Pflug,  and Sarah Tolmie.

The Sunburst Award takes its name from the debut novel of the late Phyllis Gotlieb, one of the first published authors of contemporary Canadian Speculative Fiction. 

ADULT FICTION:

• André Alexis, Days by Moonlight [Coach House Books]
• L.X. Beckett, Gamechanger [Tor Books]
• Lisa de Nikolits, The Occult Persuasion and the Anarchist’s Solution [Inanna Publications]
• Seyward Goodhand, Even That Wildest Hope [Invisible Publishing]
• Christian Guay-Poliquin, translated by David Homel, The Weight of Snow [Talonbooks]
• Scott R. Jones, Shout Kill Revel Repeat [Trepidatio Publishing]
• Helen Marshall, The Migration [Random House Canada]
• Karen McBride, Crow Winter [HarperAvenue]
• Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Gods of Jade and Shadow [Del Rey]
• Johanna Skibsrud, Island [Hamish Hamilton]
• Richard Van Camp, Moccasin Square Gardens [Douglas & McIntyre]
• Jo Walton, Lent [Tor Books]

YOUNG ADULT FICTION:

• Nafiza Azad, The Candle and the Flame [Scholastic Inc.]
• Sara Cassidy, Nevers [Orca Book Publishers]
• E. L. Chen, Summerwood/Winterwood [ChiZine Publications]
• Rivka Galchen, Rat Rule 79 [Yonder]
• Aviaq Johnston, Those Who Dwell Below [Inhabit Media]
• Jess Keating, Nikki Tesla and the Ferret-Proof Death Ray [Scholastic Inc.]
• Katherine Magyarody, The Changeling of Fenlen Forest [Great Plains Publications]
• Cara Martin, Shantallow [DCB]
• Allison Mills, The Ghost Collector [Annick Press]
• Shane Peacock, The Dark Missions of Edgar Brim: Demon [Penguin Teen]
• Edward Willett, Master of the World [Daw]

SHORT STORY:

• Leslie Brown, “Cleaning House in Ithaca” [Tesseracts Twenty-Two Alchemy and Artifacts, July 2019]      
• K.T. Bryski , “When the White Bird Sings” [Augur Magazine, Issue 2.2]    
• Rebecca  Campbell, “The Fourth Trimester is the Strangest”  [The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, May/June 2019]
• Laura DeHaan, “Roots and Shoots” [Augur Magazine, Issue 2.1]
• Amal El-Mohtar, “Florilegia” [The Mythic Dream, Gallery/Saga Press]        
• Chadwick Ginther, “Cheating the Devil at Solitaire” [On Spec: The Canadian Magazine of the Fantastic, Issue 112, Dec 2019]
• Catherine George, “Katabasis” [Augur Magazine, Issue 2.3]
• Maria Haskins, “The Brightest Lights of Heaven” [Fireside Magazine, Issue 69, July 2019]           
• Brent Hayward, “Lake of Dreams” [Broken Sun, Broken Moon, ChiZine Publications]      
• Kate Heartfield, “The Inland Beacon” [Tesseracts Twenty-Two Alchemy and Artifacts, July 2019]
• Thomas Anguti Johnston, “Revenge” [Taaqtumi: An Anthology of Arctic Horror Stories, Inhabit Media]  
• Catherine Kim, “The Hundred Gardens” [Nat. Brut, Issue 12, Spring 2019]
• Catherine MacLeod, “The Stone Alphabet” [Earth: Giants, Golems, and Gargoyles, Tyche Books]
• Richard Van Camp, “Wheetago War II: Summoners” [Moccasin Square Gardens, Douglas & McIntyre] 
• A.C. Wise, “How the Trick is Done” [Uncanny Magazine, Issue 29, July/August 2019]

[Based on a press release.]