Cannon is a graphic novel by Lee Lai, published in September 2025 by Drawn & Quarterly. It won the 2026 Stella Award, and has been shortlisted for several other major awards.
Premise Cannon follows a queer Chinese woman, known as Cannon to her friends and coworkers and Lucy to her family, working at a restaurant in Montreal in 2017. Flashback to Cannon's adolescence and earlier adulthood "reveal what led her to this breaking point”.
Reception Cannon was reviewed by The Guardian, The New York Times, and The New Yorker.
In May 2026 it won the Stella Award in Australia, becoming the first graphic novel to do so in the 14-year history of the award.
Recognition and awards +YearAwardResultRef.2025GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Graphic Novel/AnthologyShortlistedLos Angeles Times Book Prize for Graphic Novel/ComicsShortlisted2026Victorian Premier's Literary Awards for FictionShortlistedStella PrizeWon Carol Shields Prize for FictionShortlistedQuebec Writers' Federation Awards - Paragraphe Hugh MacLennan Prize for FictionShortlisted
References