'Hellions' author Julia Elliott wins $150K fiction prize

Author Julia Elliott won for her short story collection Hellions. Forrest Clonts/Tin House hide caption

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Forrest Clonts/Tin House

Writer Julia Elliott has won this year's Carol Shields Prize for Fiction for her short story collection Hellions. The award honors work by women and nonbinary authors in the U.S. and Canada.

Elliott, who also authored the novel The New and Improved Romie Futch and the short story collection The Wilds, is known for blending elements of Southern gothic horror, surrealism and fairy tale. Hellions, published in 2025, includes stories set against backdrops like a plague-stricken medieval convent, a feminist art colony, and small Southern towns.

"This eerie, eclectic, genre-leaping collection takes no half-measures; every sentence of Hellions crackles or crawls," wrote the prize jury in a statement. "Here, human folly moves against a backdrop of horror and magic … But for all its wildness, there is tremendous control."

The prize, named after a Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist, awards $150,000 to one winner each year. Novels, short story collections, and graphic novels by women and nonbinary authors are eligible.

This year's finalists included Quiara Alegría Hudes (The White Hot), Lee Lai (Cannon), Megha Majumdar (A Guardian and a Thief), and Sonya Walger (Lion). They will each receive $12,500.

The Carol Shields Prize went to writer Canisia Lubrin in 2025.

You can listen to actor Donna Lynne Champlin read Elliott's story "Hellion" on the Death, Sex & Money podcast here.