Mai Nguyen’s novel, Cleo Dang Would Rather Be Dead, has been longlisted for the 2026 Giller Prize.

MAI NGUYEN is a Vietnamese Canadian author whose debut novel, Sunshine Nails, was longlisted for Canada Reads and named one of the best books of 2023 by NPR and CBC. Her journalism has appeared in Wired, The Washington Post, and The Toronto Star. Raised in Halifax, she now lives in Toronto with her husband, daughter, and French bulldog.

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

A couple of months after my daughter died, I knew I wanted to write a book about the aftermath of out-of-order loss. I wanted to explore the ways in which grief changes us for the worse, and the long, gruelling path to finding some semblance of beauty from that wreckage.

Which authors or books inspired your book?

I’m thankful for the loss mothers who’ve written about grief so beautifully and courageously, namely Elizabeth McCracken’s An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination and Yiyun Li’s Things in Nature Merely Grow.

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

Get rid of the idea that you need a full day to write. Fruitful writing can be done during small windows, like your 30-minute commute or your baby’s one-hour nap. These small windows add up. And when you can’t sit down and write, never stop thinking about your book and jotting down your ideas. Some of the best ideas happen when you’re not writing.

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

I was so moved by two books I read lately, both by Canadian authors: Good People by Patmeena Sabit and Wonder World by K.R. Byggdin.

Who is your favourite character in your longlisted book and why?

Kenneth Timmerman is my favourite character. He’s the funeral home director who, at first, comes off a little kooky and peculiar, but grows to become an incredibly endearing, empathic soul with an affecting history. He’s proof that community is what heals us.

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