Prairie Edge by Conor Kerr

The Giller Prize-longlisted author ofAvenue of Championsreturns with a frenetic, propulsive crime thriller that doubles as a sharp critique of modern activism and challenges readers to consider what "Land Back" might really look like.

Meet Isidore "Ezzy" Desjarlais and Grey Ginther: two distant Mtis cousins making the most of Grey's uncle's old trailer, passing their days playing endless games of cribbage and cracking cans of cheap beer in between. Grey, once a passionate advocate for change, has been hardened and turned cynical by an activist culture she thinks has turned performative and lazy.

One night, though, she has a revelation, and enlists Ezzy, who is hopelessly devoted to her but eager to avoid the authorities after a life inand out of the group home system and jail, for a bold yet dangerous political mission: capture a herd of bison from a national park and set them free in downtown Edmonton, disrupting the churn of settler routine. But as Grey becomes increasingly single-minded in her newfound calling, their act of protest puts the pair and those close to them in peril, with devastating and sometimes fatal consequences.

For readers drawn to the electric storytelling of Morgan Talty and the taut register of Stephen Graham Jones, Conor Kerr'sPrairie Edgeis at once a gripping, darkly funny caper and a raw reckoning with the wounds that persist across generations.(From Strange Light)

Prairie Edgeis shortlisted for the2024 Giller Prize.

• Anne Michaels, Conor Kerr among finalists for 2024 Giller Prize
• 12 Canadian books make longlist for 2024 $100K Giller Prize
• 52 works of Canadian fiction coming out in spring 2024
• How an escaped Albertan bison herd inspired Conor Kerr's latest novel about resisting colonial structures
• 13 poetry collections by past CBC Literary Prizes winners and finalists from 2024
• 13 Canadian books to read for Earth Day 2024
• Books by past CBC Poetry Prize winners and finalists being published in 2024

Conor Kerr is a Mtis and Ukrainian educator, writer and harvester. He is a member of the Mtis Nation of Alberta and is descended from the Gladue, Ginther and Quinn families from the Lac Ste. Anne and Fort Des Prairies Mtis communities and the Papaschase Cree Nation. Kerr is a harvesterand labrador retriever enthusiast.His poemPrairie Ritualwas on the2021 CBC PoetryPrize longlist. His previous novelAvenue of Championswas on the2022 Scotiabank Giller Prize longlist.

Interviews with Conor Kerr

The Next Chapter14:35Acclaimed Mtis Ukrainian writer Conor Kerr explores the Prairie landscapes and kinscapes that shape him.

Edmonton-based poet Conor Kerr talks to Ryan B. Patrick about his thought-provoking poetry collection, Old Gods, and why he calls the Prairies home.

Other books by Conor Kerr