Second Giller Prize awarded to U of T alum Souvankham Thammavongsa

U of T alum Souvankham Thammavongsa  celebrates her second Giller Prize win for her debut novel Pick a Colour at the awards ceremony in Toronto on November 17. Photo credit: Ryan Emberley Photography.

Souvankham Thammavongsa (BA 2003 NEW), a University of Toronto alum and celebrated Canadian author, has won the Giller Prize for the second time in five years, this time in recognition of her debut novel, Pick a Colour.

The Giller Prize awards $100,000 annually to the author of the best Canadian novel, graphic novel or short story collection published in English. 

Inspired by lived experience

Pick a Colour is a revelatory novel about love, labour and class. 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. Inspired by Thammavongsa’s lived experience as a refugee and racialized woman growing up in Canada, she tackles stereotypes about immigrant workers.

“Thammavongsa challenges our biases and insists that we never look at a nail salon, or its workers, the same way again,” jurors wrote about the winning book “A master of form and restraint, Thammavongsa once again affirms her place as one of the most vital literary voices of our time.”

Standing among great U of T alumni authors

“When I was a kid, I didn't know how to become a writer,” Thammavongsa said in her acceptance speech in Toronto on November 17. “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.” 

Born in a refugee camp in Thailand and raised in Toronto, Thammavongsa’s short story collection How to Pronounce Knife, won the Giller in 2020. 

With this win, Thammavongsa becomes the fourth author to win the literary award twice. Other U of T alumni and faculty who have won include Margaret Atwood, Ian Williams, Elizabeth Hay and Michael Ondaatje. 

Originally published by the Faculty of Arts & Science