By Stephen Weir

Just as the Caribbean Camera was going to press, the shortlist for the Atwood Gibson Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize was released by the Writers’ Trust. Five Canadian authors are in the running for the $60,000 prize, including Trinidad Canadian novelist Kai Thomas.

Thomas, a writer and carpenter based in Ottawa, is nominated for his first novel, “In The Upper Country.” The book tells the story of unforgettable women—one just beginning a journey of reckoning and self-discovery, and the other completing her life’s last vital act. This deeply researched debut is set in the Black communities of Ontario, which served as the last stop on the Underground Railroad.

The story unfolds in a mid-18th century southwestern Ontario town, a community founded by refugees from the slave-owning states of the American South, whose agents did not always respect the border.

The other four finalists for the Atwood Gibson Prize are: Emma Donoghue (“Learned by Heart”), Amanda Peters (“The Berry Pickers”), Michelle Porter (“A Grandmother Begins the Story”), and Thomas Wharton (“The Book of Rain”). The $60,000 prizewinner will be announced on November 21 at the annual Writers’ Trust Awards ceremony.

Funded by businessman and philanthropist Jim Balsillie, the prize annually recognizes the best novel or short story collection by a Canadian author. The Prize is named in honor of writer Margaret Atwood (The Handmaid’s Tale) and her late husband, Graeme Gibson.