Suzette Mayr has won the 2022 Scotiabank Giller Prize, Canadian fiction’s most prestigious literary award, for her novel The Sleeping Car Porter.

Mayr’s novel, published last month by Coach House Books, follows a queer Black train porter in 1929 who is saving up money to go to dentistry school. A critic for Kirkus wrote of the book, “You’ll probably be more generous with tips, and train rides will never be the same.”

In an interview with the CBC, Mayr said she wanted to shine a light on the history of Black Canadians.

“It’s important that Black people become part of the fabric of the history of this country,” she said. “It gets a little tiring when the only time you talk about it is in February because it's Black History Month. It’s every month. It’s everywhere.…The porters were important in helping to establish a Black middle class, one that had a ton of impact in all kinds of ways including labor rights.”

In an emotional acceptance speech, Mayr said, “I want to acknowledge the importance of the sleeping car porters, the men and the communities around them, who are an essential part of Canadian history.…and a final shout-out to my LGBTQIA2S+ sisters, brothers, and siblings, many of whom, like my main character, Baxter, are too scared to come out or cannot come out because to do so would be too dangerous. I see you, I love you, and this book is for you.”

The Giller Prize, which comes with a cash prize of about $75,000, was first awarded in 1994. Previous winners have included Alice Munro for The Love of a Good Woman and Runaway, and Margaret Atwood for Alias Grace.

Michael Schaub, a journalist and regular contributor to NPR, lives near Austin, Texas.