Arts & Science alum Souvankham Thammavongsa has won the $100,000 Giller Prize for the second time in five years, this time for her debut novel, Pick a Colour.
The Giller is Canada’s most prestigious literary award given annually to the author of the best Canadian novel, graphic novel or short story collection published in English.
It’s the latest honour in Thammavongsa’s celebrated writing career, which blossomed at the University of Toronto.
“It was a big deal for me to go to U of T,” says Thammavongsa, who earned her honours bachelor of arts degree in 2003, majoring in English as a member of New College.
Thammavongsa has called Toronto home since her parents brought her to Canada as a baby, after leaving a refugee camp in Thailand.
“My mom and dad never went to school and when I walked into my kindergarten class the first day, I had more education than my parents would ever have in this lifetime,” she says.
“I knew U of T was a special place for me to go. My parents would drive by the school on our way to Chinatown and for so many years we would imagine me going to school here. And I did.”
Giving voices to the voiceless
Pick a Colour is a revelatory novel about love, labour and class; Giller Prize jurors lauded Thammavongsa as “one of the most vital literary voices of our time.”
The story centres on Ning, a retired boxer turned nail salon owner, toiling away for privileged clients who don’t even know her real name.
“My novel takes such a figure — so often seen as sad or just a prop, voiceless on the sidelines — and places her at its centre,” says Thammavongsa. “In my novel, such a figure is all voice.”
Writing Pick a Colour was a new challenge that pushed Thammavongsa mentally and physically. She learned how to box, stepping into the ring for 18 months of rigorous training.
“When I was a kid, I didn't know how to become a writer,” she said in her acceptance speech on Nov. 17 in Toronto.
“My mom and dad are not writers. I printed and bound my own books, sold them out of my school knapsack, on front lawns, at farmers’ markets and at small press fairs. Thank you to anyone who has ever bought a book that I made.”
Joining U of T legendary writers
Since the Giller Prize was founded in 1996, Thammavongsa is one of four authors who have won it twice — and she achieved this feat faster than any other.
When she won her first Giller for How to Pronounce Knife, a collection of short stories published in 2020, Thammavongsa joined an elite group of U of T faculty and alumni including Margaret Atwood, Ian Williams, Elizabeth Hay and Michael Ondaatje.
“I have travelled the world and everywhere I have gone, everyone knows U of T is the best school in Canada,” says Thammavongsa, who just wrapped up a three-month book tour.
The future of Canadian literature is promising, she adds: “It's still very young. We are still very shy as a country, about being loud about the talent we have here.”
Advice for aspiring writers
Thammavongsa’s advice for aspiring writers is to take the job seriously.
“I think waiting for inspiration and blaming writer’s block is a scam,” says Thammavongsa, who implores herself to be productive at her desk every day from 9 to 5.
And for any English majors who worry about choosing between pursuing their passion and job prospects, Thammavongsa argues a U of T degree in the humanities develops skills that endure.
“We who have literature degrees know how to learn and teach and explain things to ourselves and others — this ability will never be obsolete.”
As for what’s next, Thammavongsa revealed she’s just finished the first draft of a new short story collection she’ll sculpt and refine over the holidays.
“While everyone else is shopping and wrapping presents — I will be alone in the quiet of my home, tinkering away with my sentences doing the work I love to do.
“That is my gift to myself and to those who read my work.”