Colin McAdam’s novel, Daphnis and Chloe, has been longlisted for the 2026 Giller Prize.

COLIN MCADAM is an internationally acclaimed novelist with a PhD from Cambridge on translations of Ancient Greek—the original language of Daphnis and Chloe. He has written non-fiction for Harpers, Granta, Salon, and Hazlitt, among other journals, and his novels have won or been shortlisted for several prizes including the Amazon Best First Novel Award, the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize, the Commonwealth Writers Prize, the Governor General’s Award, the Rogers Writers’ Trust Prize and the Giller Prize. He lives in Quebec.

What’s the first piece of writing you had published?

I had a short story published in a journal at McGill University. I can’t remember the name of the journal but I think the story was called GEORGE. I remember the editor called it ’pretentious’ but published it anyway.

When did you first come up with the idea for your book?

About two months before finishing it. I wrote it quickly.

Which authors or books inspired your book?

Daphnis and Chloe is a reimagining of an Ancient Greek novel written by someone named Longus, probably around the second century. Not much is known about him, including whether Longus was actually his name. His work inspired me directly, but also the idea of someone in his unimaginable circumstance choosing to write a light-hearted story about love. That was moving to me.

When did you know you wanted to be a writer?

I remember being a kid at boarding school and looking out the window at a tree, wanting to describe how that tree was making me feel. But I didn’t bother. And then, when my first novel was published twenty years later, I felt like a writer. There’s some wisdom in there somewhere.

Did anything surprise you when writing your longlisted book?

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. I woke up eager to write, which usually only happens when I’m on the home stretch of a project. A weightless feeling, like being in love or riding a bike to somewhere you really want to go.

Follow us on X, Bluesky, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn for the latest Giller Prize news, including when the shortlist is announced on October 5, 2026.