I write about survival and strength and slippery truths.
I write about the hard ways to love, and the easy ones.
I write to cage the shadows.

2025 Guernica Prize for Literary Fiction FINALIST

  • FAULT LINES

    PREORDER Sept 1st, 2026

    RELEASE DATE: Nov 1st, 2026

  • Nadia Browning doesn't talk about before.

    Not with her husband or two young adult children. Not with her in-laws or the handful of colleagues from her flailing illustration career. And certainly not with the people who claim to have raised her. But when St. Joseph’s hospital calls with the news that her stepmother Bonnie has been placed in palliative care and her father is walking the corridors in a demntia-ridden daze, Nadia is thrust into a past she no longer owns. Unexpected grief tangles with long-held resentment, her father’s unreliable memory forcing her to time-travel the decades.

  • Then Nadia's daugher Lauren, prone to episodes of withdrawal and rage, vandalizes a sculpture and disappears.

    Racing against time and the elements of a Canadian prairie winter, Nadia realizes the only way to save Lauren is to confront the truth of her family legacy, just as her past collides with her present.

  • Shirley Hay weaves past and present into a compelling story of family, trauma, and survival. Honest and moving.

    Robert Hough, author of The Marriage of Rose Camilleri

  • Right from the opening scene, the dramatic propulsion never lags and makes it hard to put this book down.

    Donna Besel, author of The Unravelling: Incest and the Destruction of a Family

  • [A] rich and moving exploration of what becomes possible when we open ourselves to each other and what we lose when we don't.

    Ruth Taylor, author of Even the Birds

Meet Shirley

Shirley Hay is an emerging author from the flatlands of the Canadian prairies. Her writing is informed by a background in psychology and family support, including neurodiverse children and those with mental health concerns. Her writing has been published in various anthologies and magazines, including Vine Leaves Press, Another Chance to Get it Right: A New Year’s Eve Anthology, Creation: A Literary Magazine, Off Topic Publishing, and has been featured on various podcasts. Her debut novel, Fault Lines, which was a finalist in the 2025 Guernica Prize for Literary Fiction, comes out in November, 2026. Shirley lives in Winnipeg, Manitoba with her family.

Gratefully living and writing on Treaty 1 Territory, ancestral lands of the Anishinaabeg, Anishininewuk, Dakota Oyate, Denesuline and Nehethowuk Nations, and the homeland of the Red River Métis.

  • "I always love a 'rising from the ashes' style story, and this one is that and then some. It's exquisitely written, heartbreakingly sad, and full of hope."

    Praise for Righting My World —Desi Stowe, author of Done and Shadows

  • “I hope to see your work in libraries everywhere in the not too distant future, because it's that good.”

    Praise for The Commission — Megan, Reader

  • "Beautiful writing."

    Praise for Kissed by a Fish — Gayle Nemeth, author of The Blizzard

  • "The story tugs on your heartstrings and makes you hopeful at the same time."

    Praise for Righting My World —Eliza Vaccaro, author of Winter: A Short Story

  • "I love the way you take us through your experience."

    Praise for Kissed by a Fish — Kirk, Reader