Indie publishers dominate Giller finalists
First-time and returning nominees make up $100,000 prize shortlist
Independent presses have scooped up three of the five spots on this year’s Scotiabank Giller Prize shortlist.
Eschewing the breakfast and mimosas usually accompanying the announcement of the shortlist each October, the finalists for the $100,000 prize for Canada’s best English-language fiction were revealed in a fast-moving livestream announcement that lasted just over seven minutes. They are:
“Ridgerunner,” by Gil Adamson (House of Anansi) This is Adamson’s first time on the Giller list. The jury said, “Drawing richly on both Western and gothic fiction, Adamson evokes a mythic landscape to frame the question: How is it possible to live a good life when obedience to man-made laws is so at odds with love, loyalty and respect for the natural world?”
“Here the Dark,” by David Bergen (Biblioasis) is one of two short-story collections in the final five. It is Bergen’s third appearance on the Giller shortlist; he won in 2005 for “The Time in Between.” The jury said, “Sexual loneliness and moral confusion pull at the delicately wrought characters in
Bergen’s latest work, a story collection of masterly skill and tension.”
“Polar Vortex,” by Shani Mootoo (Book*hug) Mootoo has been a Giller finalist before, in 1997 for “Cereus Blooms at Night” and in 2014 for “Moving Forward Sideways Like a Crab.” Her latest book is described by the Giller jury as “the unsettling examination of a failing marriage … Mootoo masterfully dismantles the stories the narrators tell themselves in language as unsparing as winter.”
“The Glass Hotel” by Emily St. John Mandel (HarperCollins) This is St. John Mandel’s first appearance on the Giller list. The jury said that, in this much-anticipated followup to her novel “Station Eleven,” Mandel “turns her gifted attention to the mirages of now and to the truth that we are haunted, always, by the lives of others.”
“How To Pronounce Knife” by Souvankham Thammavongsa (McClelland and Stewart) is the second short-story collection on the list and Thammavongsa’s debut collection, although she has published four volumes of poetry. The jury said the book “is a stunning collection of stories that portray the immigrant experience in achingly beautiful prose. The emotional expanse chronicled in this collection is truly remarkable.”
The shortlist was whittled down from a 14-nominee longlist chosen from 118 books by a jury of five: author Mark Sakamoto, former chair of the Ontario Media Development Corp. (now Ontario Creates); B.C. author and previous Giller nominee Eden Robinson; British/ Canadian author Tom Rachman; author and previous Giller nominee David Chariandy; and British journalist and arts commentator Claire Armitstead.
High-profile authors on the longlist who did not make the shortlist cut this time included Thomas King, Emma Donoghue, Lynn Coady and Annabel Lyon.
The winner will be unveiled Nov. 9 in a broadcast on CBC hosted by Eric McCormack. They will receive $100,000 plus the Giller award, which is being redesigned this year; each finalist receives $10,000.
Accompanied by fast-paced music, the shortlist was announced Monday by five previous winners of the prize: Esi Edugyan, Sean Michaels, Madeleine Thien, Elizabeth Hay and Michael Redhill. They were preceded by Elana Rabinovitch, the prize’s executive director, who noted that, while world has changed, “the one remaining constant is our love affair with books and our devotion to Canadian authors.”
The prize was founded in 1994 by businessman Jack Rabinovitc h to honour his wife, literary journalist and former Toronto Star books editor Doris Giller.