Janika Oza is a Canadian novelist. Her debut novel, A History of Burning, was shortlisted for the Governor General's Award for English-language fiction at the 2023 Governor General's Awards, the 2024 Carol Shields Prize for Fiction,"2024 Carol Shields Prize Shortlist Announced" . Publishers Weekly, April 9, 2024. and the 2024 Amazon.ca First Novel Award.Cassandra Drudi, "2024 Amazon First Novel Award shortlist revealed". Quill & Quire, May 9, 2024.
Her short story "Fish Stories" won the 2022 O. Henry Award.
Biography In a piece for Toronto Star discussing her ancestry, Oza explained that her "great-grandparents left British-ruled India for British-ruled East Africa in the early 1900s, where three generations of my family settled, first in Kenya and then in Uganda, until they were exiled in 1972 under the dictator Idi Amin’s decree to expel all Asians from the country." She was the first person in her family to be born in Canada. She further explained that this ancestry helped her explore the questions raised in A History of Burning.
Oza was a school settlement worker.
In 2025 she served on the jury for the Dayne Ogilvie Prize for emerging LGBTQ writers.Cassandra Drudi, "Tea Gerbeza, Roza Nozari, Ziyad Saadi shortlisted for 2025 Dayne Ogilvie Prize". Quill & Quire, September 3, 2025.
Awards and honours YearTitleAwardResultRef.2019ExileMalahat Review Open Season Award—The Gift of ChoiceCBC Short Story Prize—2020"Fish Stories"Kenyon Review Short Fiction Award—2022O. Henry Award—2023A History of BurningGovernor General's AwardsEnglish Fiction2024Carol Shields Prize for Fiction —Dayton Literary Peace Prize—
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