Will Ferguson wins Giller for thriller 419
Novelist adds Canada’s most prestigious literary prize to his three Leacock humour awards
TORONTO — Will Ferguson, one of Canada’s pre- eminent humorists, travel writers, and a three- time winner of the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour, is the winner of this year’s Scotiabank Giller Prize.
Ferguson’s tightly plotted literary thriller 419, which explores the Byzantine world of email scams, taking the reader from the streets of Calgary to the back alleys of Lagos, is perhaps the most populist book to be awarded Canada’s most prestigious literary prize.
He receives $ 50,000 for winning the Giller, which was awarded at a gala ceremony in Toronto Tuesday night.
The Canadian publishing industry gathered in the midst of a storm — both figuratively and literally. The past week saw the collapse of independent Vancouver press Douglas & McIntyre — which just two years ago printed copies of Johanna Skibsrud’s Giller Prize- winning novel The Sentimentalists — and the news that industry giants Penguin and Random House will soon merge into one ( 419 is published by Viking, an imprint of Penguin). Additionally, the remnants of superstorm Sandy, which pummelled the northeastern United States on Monday night, were forecast to reach Toronto . Yet it was likely nothing could detract from Ferguson’s victory. The 48- year- old Calgarian is the author of 10 books in all, ranging from fiction ( Happiness; Spanish Fly) to humour ( Why I Hate Canadians; Canadian Pie) to travelogues ( Beyond Belfast; Hitching Rides with Buddha).
The other finalists for this year’s prize were Kim Thuy for her novel Ru, translated from the French by Sheila Fischman, a spare, meditative exploration of a young girl’s life in war- torn Vietnam and struggles in 1970s Quebec; Russell Wangersky for his short story collection Whirl Away; Alix Ohlin for her novel Inside, a multi- faceted study of how tragedy and memory echo throughout the years; and Nancy Richler for her novel The Imposter Bride, about a woman searching for a missing mother who wasn’t exactly who she appeared to be. They each receive $ 5,000.
Ferguson was chosen by a jury of Canadian publisher and writer Anna Porter, Russian- American satirist and novelist Gary Shteyngart, and Irish writer Roddy Doyle.