“Thien, a 42-year-old Montreal writer, has been awarded this year’s English-language fiction prize for her breakout novel Do Not Say We Have Nothing. The prize, which celebrates its 80th anniversary this year, counts many of the giants of CanLit among its previous winners: Hugh MacLennan, Gabrielle Roy, Margaret Laurence, Alice Munro, Mordecai Richler, Robertson Davies, Timothy Findley, Margaret Atwood, Mavis Gallant, Rohinton Mistry, Michael Ondaatje.”