Giller nominees both global and original
Twelve titles on 2016 long list vying for $100,000 prize
These are the authors and books you’ll want to familiarize yourself with if you haven’t already read them: sweeping fiction, short stories, debut authors and veteran writers — all featured on the 2016 Scotiabank Giller Prize long list, announced Wednesday.
The 12 titles vying for the $100,000 prize were whittled down by the jury from 161 books submitted by 69 publishers.
“We selected books that reflect the boldness, originality and global perspectives that have come to characterize much Canadian writing,” noted the jury, chaired this year by Canadian writer Lawrence Hill.
On this eclectic list is Madeleine Thien, who is having a good year. Her Do Not Say We Have Nothing (Alfred A. Knopf Canada) was nominated for the Booker Prize in July, and has now-made the long list for Canada’s most prestigious literary award. It is her first appearance on the list.
Emma Donoghue, who is also having a good year — in January she was nominated for a Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar for the adaptation of her book Room — is on the list for the second time for her upcoming book The Wonder (out Sept. 20).
David Bergen has been on a Giller list three times before. He won in 2005, for The Time in Between, was longlisted in 2008, for The Retreat and made the short list in 2010, for The Matter With Morris.
This year he has been nominated for Stranger, which explores the idea of displacement and class through the story of a Guatemalan girl.
Steven Price’s By Gaslight ( McClel- land & Stewart), the last book edited by venerable M& S editor Ellen Seligman, who died in March, gives Price his first Giller nomination.
Gary Barwin, also a familiar name — he’s written more than 20 books of poetry, fiction and stories for children — is on the Giller list for the first time for Yiddish for Pirates, a punladen look at religious persecution and identity.
Another familiar author on the list for the first time is Zoe Whittall for The Best Kind of People, a look at what happens when a family member is accused of sexual assault.
She has published fiction and poet- ry and writes for TV, Schitt’s Creek and Baroness von Sketch Show most recently.
Debut novelist Mona Awad, picked by the Star as one to watch this year, is also on the list for her book 13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Gir (Penguin Canada), which won the Amazon.ca First Novel Award in May.
Two short story collections made the list:
Kathy Lee Powell’s Willem de Kooning’s Paintbrush (HarperAvenue)
Kathy Page’s The Two of Us (A John Metcalf Book, an imprint of Biblioasis).
Indie publisher Biblioasis, which had three publications on the short list last year, is represented this year with two titles: The Two of Us and Catherine Leroux’s The Party Wall (Biblioasis International Translation Series, translated by Lazer Le- derhendler).
Other independent publishers also make a strong showing; Wolsak and Wynn is represented on the list for the first time with Susan Perly’s novel Death Valley.
Pillow by Andrew Battershill (Coach House Books), gives last year’s Giller-winning publishing house a title on this year’s list as well. Last year’s winner, Andre Alexis for Fifteen Dogs, did not appear on this year’s long list for his latest book, The Hidden Keys.
This year, the five-person jury is made up of Canadian writers Hill, himself a long-list nominee in 2007, for The Book of Negroes, Jeet Heer and Kathleen Winter, as well as British author Samantha Harvey and Scottish writer Alan Warner.
The short list is to come out on Sept. 26. The overall winner will be announced at a gala event Nov. 7, aired live on CBC-TV.