Ian Williams’ novel, You’ve Changed, has been longlisted for the 2025 Giller Prize.

Ian is the award-winning author of seven acclaimed books of fiction, poetry, and nonfiction. His debut novel, Reproduction, won the 2019 Giller Prize. His first work of nonfiction, Disorientation: Being Black in the World, was a finalist for the Hilary Weston Prize for Nonfiction, as well as a CBC and Boston Globe best book of the year. In 2024, Williams delivered the CBC Massey Lectures, which became the bestselling book What I Mean to Say, on rehabilitating conversation in divisive times. A trustee for the Griffin Poetry Prize, Williams is a professor of English and director of the Creative Writing program at the University of Toronto.

Which authors or books inspired your book?

Can I give you a song for your playlist instead? You’ve Changed is the title of my novel and also of a song which has haunted me for years. That song is the soundtrack to the book. You’ll never be the same after the version by Eva Cassidy.

What advice would you have for someone struggling to make time to write?

You always have time 30 minutes before your alarm goes off.

What’s the last great book you read by a Canadian author?

Last night I finished Merilyn Simonds’s Walking with Beth, which documents her friendship with a 100-year-old woman. It’s all about the power of conversations to connect people, a topic that has been close to my heart since writing the Massey Lectures.

Earlier this week, I finished Maria Reva’s Endling. It’s the best metafiction I’ve seen in a while.

For poetry, I’ll say Karen Solie is in her prime with her latest collection, Wellwater. You can taste perfection in this poem: That Which Was Learned in Youth Is Always Most Familiar.

In terms of urgency, everyone should own Ira Wells’s On Book Banning. It’s well-researched, accessible, balanced, efficient.

Who’s your favourite character in your longlisted book and why?

Oh, that’s not a fair question. Official answer: I love them all. That’s why I spent so much time with them. Whispered answer: I have a soft spot for Gluten who appears in part 2 and is so much more than the himbo he seems to be. I’m also fond of the minor characters who died before the beginning of the novel, Beckett’s mother and his dog, PointFive.

How many drafts did you go through when writing your book?

The final draft was 12k according to the You’ve Changed folder on my drive. I have an elaborate drafting system. Each draft targets a particular problem. The first three drafts might focus on elements of plot, say.  Draft eight might be point-of-view. And within each draft, I go through as many sub-drafts as necessary until I’m satisfied (those are the letters after the draft number). Each draft represents a full revision of the novel. I was stuck in drafts three and four for about a year, moving my stethoscope around for a heartbeat until I found one. Those were anxious years.

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