Giller Winner Thammavongsa Reflects on Her Bold New Novel At Burlington Public Library

By: Jack Brittle, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Burlington Local-News.ca

 

On November 27, the Burlington Public Library (BPL) hosted an author talk with Souvankham Thammavongsa, focused on her new book and first novel, Pick a Colour. The event was part of the fifth annual Burlington Literary Festival, which comprises talks and workshops with both local and nationally published writers.

 

Thammavongsa is a Laotian Canadian writer, and much of her work draws on her experience immigrating to Canada as a child.

 

She began her professional career as a poet, publishing her first book, Small Arguments, in 2004. In 2020, Thammavongsa published her first collection of short stories, How to Pronounce Knife, which won the Trillium Book Award the following year.

 

Pick a Colour was released in September 2025 and was awarded this year’s Giller Prize.

 

Thammavongsa spoke about what it was like to write a long-form piece for the first time.

 

“It was difficult because the way that I write, I like to get in there and to get out [quickly],” Thammavongsa said. “And the thing about a novel is that it asks you to stay in there a lot longer. I often figure out my endings first before I begin, and for the novel, I set out not to do that. I wanted the ending to be a surprise for me. So when I got to the ending, it really was at the end, the very end.”

 

Thammavongsa described her usual process of writing as “intense.”

 

“Every single word matters in a poem or in a short story,” Thammavongsa said. “Whereas in a novel, I feel like the form is way more forgiving.”

 

Despite this, she still carries her disciplined approach to novel writing. “I’m not forgiving towards myself as a writer,” Thammavongsa said.

 

She spoke about where that discipline comes from.

 

“I’m not given a very large piece of real estate on which to create,” Thammavongsa said. “So every time I do, I feel like everything is so scrutinized, and I’d better bring my A game.”

 

    

    Thammavongsa’s (right) author talk took place on the third floor of the Central Branch of the Burlington Public Library and was hosted by Parampreet Singh (left), events coordinator for the library.

 

Thammavongsa said that due to her upbringing, she views and treats the English language differently from that of a native English speaker. She spoke about how this unique perspective was incorporated into Pick a Colour.

“I thought about the English language, the way in which it’s always centred in literature, especially by writers of colour,” she said. “In my novel, the English language is not centred. Yes, it is written in the English language, but whenever we hear an English language speaker, it is heard in indirect speech.”

 

Thammavongsa explained that the only times when English is explicitly spoken by a character other than the narrator are with the exclamations “yoo-hoo!” and “whoa, whoa.”

 

“Whenever we think of an English language speaker, as someone who doesn’t speak English as their first language, we think of the language as having a kind of eloquence and intelligence and knowledge,” she said. “Whereas in my novel, it just uses those two sounds, which sound like grunts and are not sophisticated at all, which I think is funny.”

 

Thammavongsa spoke about how she tried to subvert readers’ and publishers’ expectations with Pick a Colour.

“Whenever you see a writer like me, she is often asked to write narratives that serve the question, ‘Where are you from?’” she said. “So I made that very deliberate choice to make this novel one voice, one room, and one day, and that is also a refusal of the kind of art that I’m expected to create.”

 

Thammavongsa said that the book is deliberately plotless and “takes the shape of a tangerine.”

 

“My book is radial, so each chapter is like the flesh of a tangerine,” she said. “As you move through each of the chapters, you’re moving through it with the rhythm of the day.”

 

Thammavongsa said that the structure is similar to a song where you look forward to hearing the chorus again.

 

“The rhythm is in the repetition,” she said. “The washing of hands, the opening of doors, the ringing of phones, the picking up of a phone, the way the traffic looks outside the window, all those elements get repeated, but every time you see them, you want to see them, you want to hear them, and you anticipate it in every chapter.”

 

    

    At the conclusion of the talk, attendees could purchase “Pick a Colour,” along with Thammavongsa’s other books from A Different Drummer, who had a stand set up next to the stage.

 

Ning, the main character in Pick a Colour, is a retired boxer working in a nail salon. Thammavongsa said that she trained in boxing for a year and a half in preparation for the book.

 

“I was reading a lot of boxing literature, and you know, the fans of boxing literature, they can tell if you’ve never been in the ring,” she said. “And I didn’t want to embarrass myself, so I took a class, and I had a trainer. I learned how to box on a technical level, like what to do with my feet, what to do with my eyes, and how to throw and take a punch.”

 

Thammavongsa signed copies of her work afterwards for those who purchased or brought copies.

 

To borrow Pick a Colour from BPL, click here.