THRILLER WINS THE GILLER
Michael Redhill’s doppelganger mind-twister Bellevue Square takes Canada’s top literary prize as gala marks bittersweet first awards ceremony without founder Jack Rabinovitch
It was founded out of love for Canadian literature and in honour of a woman who adored books.
The love affair continued Monday night as writers, publishers, executives and politicians at the Scotiabank Giller Prize erupted in joy as Torontonian Michael Redhill was announced the winner of the $100,000 award — the richest book prize in the nation.
“You gave me such a boost by longlisting me that this seems quite excessive,” Redhill said to the jury.
Toward the end of his speech the author of Bellevue Square broke down, thanking writers Michael Ondaatje and Linda Spalding who “over 30 years ago . . . opened their door to me and I’m grateful for the enthusiasm and encouragement they brought to my life.”
He also thanked the late businessman, Jack Rabinovitch, who founded the Giller Prize in 1994 in honour of his late wife, literary journalist Doris Giller.
During Redhill’s emotional speech, he paused and addressed the audience: “You guys are worried this is going to get really moist, aren’t you?”
In an interview after the awards ceremony, Redhill said “life doesn’t prepare you for receiving a $100,000 cheque and then addressing people live across the nation, so I think I will probably have no memory of this evening in about 20 minutes, just to protect myself.
“Living as a writer, you sometimes surf on credit and goodwill, and this will make me a much better risk for the various people who may have to help me in the future.”
Earlier this year, Redhill posted on Facebook looking for editing work. “The ends, they do not meet,” he wrote.
“The ends are going to meet for a while now,” he quipped after winning the prize.
The jury cited Redhill’s book for its “complex literary wonders,” saying that it is “warm, and funny, and smart. Let’s celebrate that it is, simply, a pleasure to read.”
Publisher Doubleday Canada described the book as “a darkly comic literary thriller about a woman who fears for her sanity — and then her life — when she learns that her doppelganger has appeared in a local park.”
“Michael has a way of blending genres to draw you in, mess with your mind and leave you unsettled in the best possible way.” LAWRENCE HILL
Redhill was shortlisted for the Giller in 2001 for his novel Martin Sloane.
His presenter, Lawrence Hill, said he “was instantly taken by Michael’s funny, twisted book . . . . Michael has a way of blending genres to draw you in, mess with your mind and leave you unsettled in the best possible way.”
Each of the five finalists and their books was presented by a celebrity author, including John Irving, Madeleine Thien and Rupi Kaur.
The other four authors on the short list this year were Rachel Cusk for Transit; Ed O’Loughlin for Minds of Winter, Eden Robinson for Son of a Trickster and Michelle Winters for I Am a Truck. Each of the runners- up received $10,000.
While the authors took centre stage, the crowd gathered in the grand ballroom at the Ritz-Carlton in Toronto was also there to pay homage to Rabinovitch, the businessman and philanthropist who died in August at the age of 87. Born of a desire to honour the memory of his wife — who was once the books editor at the Toronto Star — after her death in1993, the first Giller Prize was awarded in 1994 to M.G. Vassanji.
This year, grief and celebration met again as Elana Rabinovitch, Jack’s daughter, presented the award, carrying on his legacy.
“Giller at its heart was a love letter from Jack to Doris,” said Elana Rabinovitch.
She quoted Ondaatje’s In The Skin of A Lion: “Trust me, this will take time but there is order here, very faint, very human.”
There were a few other changes this year. The finalists went on their usual cross-Canada tour so that almost anyone in this country who wanted to see them could. But this time, they also went to London, England, giving a reading at Canada House — and introducing a new audience to Canadian literature.
Rabinovitch was known for saying that “for the price of a meal in this town, you can buy all the books. So go out, buy the books and eat at home.”
Those books were chosen by a jury made up of Andre Alexis, who won the Giller in 2015 for his book Fifteen Dogs; Anita Rau Badami, who chaired the jury this year; Lynn Coady, who won in 2013 for Hellgoing; British author Richard Beard and American Nathan Englander. The five finalists were chosen from 12 long-listed titles, whittled down from 112 books submitted by 73 publishers across Canada.
Cusk’s Transit (HarperCollins) is “simultaneously intimate and expansive, alight with wisdom and humour, an exquisitely poised meditation on life, time and change,” according to the jury.
Cusk previously was shortlisted in 2015 for Outline. She was born in Canada but has lived in the U.K. most of her life. She was presented on the broadcast by Irving.
O’Loughlin’s Minds of Winter (Anansi) was hailed by the jury as “our desire for knowledge, our ob- session with the past, our grappling with life itself . . . all of it is generously, wittily on display.” Like Cusk, O’Loughlin was born in Canada, in Toronto, but lives in Dublin.
His book, however, looks to the Arctic, weaving together stories of polar exploration, including the Canadian legend of the Franklin expedition. Previously he’s been long-listed for the Man Booker Prize. He was presented by Thomas King, author of The Inconvenient Indian.
Robinson’s Son of a Trickster (Knopf Canada) “shimmers with magic and vitality . . . often darkly funny, sometimes poignant, this is a book that will resonate long after the reader has devoured the final page.” Also no stranger to Giller glamour, she was a finalist in 2000 for her book Monkey Beach. She was presented by bestselling Canadian poet Rupi Kaur.
Debut author Michelle Winters’ novel I Am a Truck (Invisible Publishing) is “an original offbeat novel that explores the gaps between what people are and what they want to be . . . fine, very funny, fully achieved novel about connection and misunderstanding. And trucks.”