Emily Austin, Drew Hayden Taylor among 10 writers longlisted for $25K Leacock Medal

Emily Austin and Drew Hayden Taylor are among the 10 authors longlisted for the 2025 Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour.

• The 2025 CBC Poetry Prize is now taking submissions!

The $25,000 prize is one of the oldest of its kind, established in 1947 to support the growth of Canadian humour writing.

Emily Austin is longlisted for Interesting Facts About Space. The book tells the story of Enid, a space-obsessed serial-dating lesbian. With a penchant for true crime podcasts, she can easily handle the vastness of space and gruesome murder details. But she's got one major phobia: bald men. And while she desperately tries to keep it under control, she can't shake the feeling that someone is following her.

• Emily Austin's novel Interesting Facts About Space explores reckoning with fear and letting people in

Austin is a writer based in Ottawa who studied English literature and library science at Western University. She is also the author of the novels Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead, We Could Be Rats and the poetry collection Gay Girl Prayers.

LISTEN | Emily Austin shares Interesting Facts About Space:

The Next Chapter12:53Interesting Facts About Space and a phobia of bald men

Ottawa-based writer Emily Austin talks about her funny, heartfelt novel about being yourself — and more importantly being OK with that.

Drew Hayden Taylor is nominated for his Indigenous horror novel Cold. The book follows four independent characters whose paths collide around a murder mystery in downtown Toronto. As we delve into the backstories of these characters, it becomes apparent that something is tracking them down in this thrilling, yet funny novel.

Taylor is an Ojibway playwright, author and journalist from Curve Lake First Nations in Ontario. He has worked on over 17 documentaries examining Indigenous experiences. His other books include Motorcycle and Sweetgrass and Take Us to Your Chief, a collection of Indigenous science fiction short stories.

LISTEN | Drew Hayden Taylor discusses creatures and myth: 

The Next Chapter11:54The legend of the Wendigo with Drew Hayden Taylor

Drew Hayden Taylor describes himself as a modern-day storyteller. He’s a playwright who has also written for film and television, in addition to an impressive collection of books. His latest work is a horror-tinged thriller based around the tale of the Wendigo, an Indigenous creature of legend.

The full longlist is: 

Interesting Facts About Space by Emily Austin

• Mood Swings by Frankie Barney
• Reservations: The Pleasures and Perils of Travel by Steve Burgess 
• RUFF by Rod Carley 
• An Evening with Birdy O'Day by Gregg Kearney
• Window Shopping for God by Deborah Kimmett 
• We Came From Away by Patricia Parsons
• Never Been Better by Leanne Toshiko Simpson
• I Hope This Finds You Well by Natalie Sue
• Cold by Drew Hayden Taylor

The shortlist will be announced on May 20, 2025, while the winner will be revealed on June 21. 

The prize is named in honour of Ontario writer Stephen Leacock, a humorist and popular author in the first half of the 20th century. His books include Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town, published in 1912, and Literary Lapses, published in 1910.

The prize has been funded by the Dunkley Charitable Foundation since the fall of 2020. The organization is based in Orillia, Ont., the town that inspired the fictional community of Mariposa in Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town. Leacock had a summer estate there.

Last year's winner was Patrick deWitt  for his novel The Librarianist. 

Other past winners include Wayne Johnston, Heidi L.M Jacobs, Robertson Davies, Pierre Berton, Farley Mowat, Paul Quarrington, Mordecai Richler, Stuart McLean, Terry Fallis, Susan Juby and Cassie Stocks.