By Dennis Abrams | @DennisAbrams2
‘Playfully Verbose…Quietly Powerful’
The Scotiabank Giller Prize has announced its longlist for its 2016 award.The twelve titles that made the list were selected from a field of 161 books submitted by 69 publishers’ imprints from every region of Canada.
The longlist for the 2016 Scotiabank Giller Prize is:
- Mona Awad for her novel 13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl, published by Penguin Canada
- Gary Barwin for his novel Yiddish for Pirates, published by Random House Canada
- Andrew Battershill for his novel Pillow, published by Coach House Books
- David Bergen for his novel Stranger, published by HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
- Emma Donoghue for her novel The Wonder, published by HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
- Catherine Leroux for her novel The Party Wall, published by Biblioasis International Translation Series, translated by Lazer Lederhendler
- Kathy Page for her story collection The Two of Us, published by A John Metcalf Book, an imprint of Biblioasis
- Susan Perly for her novel Death Valley, published by Buckrider Books, an imprint of Wolsak and Wynn Publishers
- Kerry Lee Powell for her story collection Willem De Kooning’s Paintbrush, published by HarperAvenue, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
- Steven Price for his novel By Gaslight, published by McClelland & Stewart
- Madeleine Thien for her novel Do Not Say We Have Nothing, published by Alfred A. Knopf Canada
- Zoe Whittall for her novel The Best Kind of People, published by House of Anansi Press Inc.
‘Global Perspectives’
The longlist was chosen by a five-member jury: Canadian writer Lawrence Hill chaired a panel that includes fellow Canadians Jeet Heer and Kathleen Winter as well as British author Samantha Harvey and Scotland’s Alan Warner.
Of the longlist, the jury writes:
“The quality and depth of Canadian fiction made it challenging to select the 2016 Scotiabank Giller Prize longlist. Many more stories and novels deserve a place on the list.
“As jurors, we salute all 161 writers whose books were brought to our attention. We selected works that reflect the boldness, originality and global perspectives that have come to characterize much Canadian writing. The books span a range of narrative styles–some playfully verbose and others quietly powerful.
“The books explore various obsessions: genocide in 20th century China and in medieval Spain; the neglect, abuse or theft of children in Ireland, North America and Guatemala; the dangers of nuclear testing; the unapologetic pursuit of crime and criminals; and the surprising ways that table manners, travel, body shape, illness, violence, and love influence self-esteem and intimate relationships.
“We, the 2016 Scotiabank Giller Prize jurors, encourage book lovers to discover the works that moved us, and to keep reading Canadian literature widely.”
Readings in Halifax, Vancouver, Toronto
The Scotiabank Giller Prize will present a series of readings, featuring this year’s shortlisted authors in:
- Halifax on October 14,
- Vancouver on October 17, and
- Toronto on November 6.
These events, called “Between the Pages: An Evening with the Scotiabank Giller Prize Finalists” are listed with information here.
The stated goal of the prize is to highlight the best in Canadian fiction on a yearly basis. The prize awards CA$100,000 ($77,000) to the author of the best Canadian novel or short story published in English and CA$10,000 ($US7,000) to each of the finalists.
The award is named in honor of the late literary journalist Doris Gillar and was founded in 1994 by her husband, Toronto businessman Jack Rabniovitch.
Finalists will be announced on September 26th. The 2016 Scotiabank Giller Prize will air on CBC and streamed at CBCBooks.ca on Monday, November 7. Check local listings for times.