Heather O’Neill joins Giller jury
Former Scotiabank Giller Prize finalist Heather O’Neill is among the jury members for this year’s award.
The Montrealer, who made Giller short lists for her novel The Girl Who Was Saturday Night and the short story collection Daydreams of Angels, will help choose the winner for the $100,000 prize, which goes to a work of Canadian fiction.
The other judges include Canadian writer and journalist Kamal Al-Solaylee and Maxine Bailey, who is a playwright and a vice-president with the Toronto International Film Festival.
U.S. writer John Freeman and English novelist Philip Hensher round out the judging panel.
This year’s long list of contending books will be announced in St. John’s, N.L., on Sept. 17 and the finalists will be revealed in Toronto on Oct. 1.
The televised awards gala will be held in Toronto in November.
Last year’s Giller winner was Toronto author Michael Redhill for his novel Bellevue Square.
He beat out titles by Eden Robinson, Rachel Cusk, Ed O’Loughlin and Michelle Winters.
The Giller Prize was established in 1994 by businessman Jack Rabinovitch in honour of his late wife, literary journalist Doris Giller. Rabinovitch died last August at age 87.
The Canadian Press