The 2013 Giller Prize is going to be weird

The 2013 Scotiabank Giller Prize jury was announced today, and it's going to be an awesome year. Margaret Atwood, Esi Edugyan and Jonathan Lethem - three heavyweights in millennium literature and DNTABC favourites. Read more at CBC and the Giller website.

Governor General's Literary Award - Fiction

On Tuesday, Linda Spalding won the 2012 Governor General's Literary Award for Fiction with her historical novel The Purchase. I have not yet had a chance to read this book, but it sounds intriguing:

"Pennsylvania 1798. Daniel Dickinson, a young Quaker father and widower, leaves his home to establish a new life with his 5 children and a 15-year-old orphan wife. In an act of misplaced compassion, Daniel buys a young slave boy, Onesimus, setting off a chain of events that sweep over several generations."

Spalding was also nominated for the Rogers Writers' Trust Prize for Fiction, won by Siege 13 by Tamas Dobozy; Dobozy, in turn, was shortlisted for the GG Award. However, neither book was nominated for the Scotiabank Giller Prize, won by Will Ferguson for 419. This marks a broad year for Canadian fiction, with three very different books winning the big three awards. In 2011, the awards lists were dominated by two novels, Half-Blood Blues and The Sisters Brothers.

Read more about Linda Spalding at Maclean's, Quill & Quire, and CBC.

November's Pick: Alias Grace

For November's book club selection, I am going back to the future with Margaret Atwood's Alias Grace. I must confess, I have started this one already; it is a long read, but thus far, it is vintage Atwood, with beautiful prose and complex, intriguing characters.

Who makes for a better character than an accused murderess who may or may not be criminally insane? And a real person, to boot. Alias Grace is the story of Grace Marks, a teenager who was convicted of murdering her employer and his housekeeper in 1843. You can read about the trial via the Toronto Public Library site, and you can read more about Grace Marks at thewhig.com.

Alias Grace won the 1996 Giller Prize and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Read more about Alias Grace here, and at Atwood's website, margaretatwood.ca.

Additionally, Alias Grace has made the Top 10 list (Ontario region) for the Canada Reads showdown. On November 14th, the list will be shortened to 5 for each region before a single representative will be selected.

And the Winner Is...

419 by Will Ferguson. I would not have guessed it, but he did have the momentum, almost from the day the longlist was announced. Read my review of the book here, and go to the Giller site for more info.

Read more reviews on the book and the Shadow Giller at The Mookse and the Gripes.

Giller Prize Announced Tomorrow

On October 30th, the Scotiabank Giller Prize will be announced, and one author will be thrust into the Canadian literary spotlight. Tonight, though, read the Shadow Giller winner as selected by KevinFromCanada et al. Their selection: The Imposter Bride by Nancy Richler. Will this win the big prize? Tune in Tuesday night at the Scotiabank Giller Prize main site to find out!

Review: 419 by Will Ferguson

Will Ferguson's 419 begins as a story about an internet scam gone horribly wrong for all involved, but ends up as a poignant snapshot of modern Nigeria. "419" refers to the section of the Nigerian Criminal Code which prohibits fraudulent activities: it includes internet scams, long cons, misrepresentation, theft, and much more. One factoid added into the plot is a scheme where people will sell homes and properties which are not owned by them; subsequently, many homes and businesses have spray painted on their walls "House Not for Sale". It is a terrifying reality for all who travel to this part of the world.

Well written with an engaging plot, Ferguson draws the reader in with multiple storylines that inevitably converge. He creates a link between historical, mythical Nigeria, through colonial France and Britain to present day imperialism, the grab for oil and its subsidiary machinations. His characters are fully realized, and thus when the plot calls upon a character to act, the reader is unsurprised by the outcome. There were a few points in the novel that dragged and some of the historical setup was unnecessary, in my opinion, but overall it was an interesting read. KevinFromCanada agrees with this synopsis:

The advantage of widescreen novels is that they allow for multiple story threads, each of which has its own set of characters. While the looming global context is always present, each set of these is experiencing the impact on a purely personal level. The disadvantage of the genre is that all those story lines require a lot of background and the foreground, frankly, is pretty well known to the reader — quite a bit of not-very-compelling plowing and tilling needs to be done to set up each thread.

The "widescreen novel" is an interesting term, denoting a storyline that encompasses multiple characters in multiple locations. Not a new premise, surely, but an apt description.

Ferguson's instincts as a travel writer comes through during the descriptions of setting and cultural markers. He creates the modern Nigeria in the reader's mind very well, reminding me strongly of Margaret Laurence's volume of Africa stories, The Tomorrow-Tamer, where she writes about Colonial Africa on the eve of independence. Laurence's power of observation as a diplomat's wife in 1950s Africa are invaluable, and Ferguson, in 419, writes an updated version for the 21st century. There are also echoes of Chinua Achebe when Ferguson explains the wholesale impact the oil industry has on modern Nigeria.

 A novel exploring similar issues is The Headmaster's Wager by Vincent Lam. Lam creates a suspenseful story with an engaging, fully developed lead character whom the reader follows through several years of struggle. Lam does a great job of showing the consequences of greed and injustice and the impact on a single person who comes to represent either a cultural group or entire nation. However, 419 was shortlisted for the 2012 Scotiabank Giller Prize; The Headmaster's Wager was not even longlisted. In my mind, Lam's novel is the better of the two, and Ferguson's place on the shortlist is fortuitous. 

Overall, 419 is an interesting read, bringing together global issues of wealth, greed, social injustice and cybercrime. Three and a half scam baiters out of five. 

One more short list - the GGs

Yesterday, the finalists for the Governor General's Literary Awards were announced. There are seven categories in both languages, so the entire list is quite long. I am only going to focus on the fiction short list, which is, to me, the most interesting. The GG Award is the third in the Canadian trifecta of literary awards, along with the Scotiabank Giller Prize and the Rogers Writers' Trust Prize for Fiction. Last year, both Esi Edugyan and Patrick deWitt were nominated for all three, with Edugyan winning the $50,000 Giller and deWitt winning the Writers' Trust and GG, at $25,000 each.

This year, there will be no possibility of a triple crown winner. No book has been nominated for all three awards, though several are in line to win two of the three. Here is the GG Fiction list:

Siege 13 by Tamas Dobozy

Dr. Brinkley's Tower by Robert Hough

The Headmaster's Wager by Vincent Lam

The Juliet Stories by Carrie Snyder

The Purchase by Linda Spalding

The biggest name on this list is Vincent Lam, who has already won the Giller for his 2006 collection of short stories, Bloodletting & Miraculous Cures. However, Dobozy and Spalding are also nominated for the Writers' Trust Prize, making them the front-runners, in my mind. Then again, none of these five titles are nominated for the Giller Prize, which indicates an incredible dearth of Canadian fiction in 2012.

Also intriguing is the absence of several big names - Linden MacIntyre, Alice Munro, M.G. Vassanji and Annabel Lyon, all previous winners of major awards, have been omitted.

Another notable finalist is Sheila Fischman for translating Kim Thuy's Ru from French to English. Ru won the GG Award for French fiction in 2010, and the English version is nominated for this year's Giller Prize.

The Governor General's Literary Awards will be announced on November 13th.

2012 Scotiabank Giller Shortlist

On October 1st, the shortlist for the 2012 Scotiabank Giller Prize was announced. The nominated books are:

419 by Will Ferguson

Inside by Alix Ohlin

The Imposter Bride by Nancy Richler

Ru by Kim Thuy

Whirl Away by Russell Wangersky

After the curious longlist announced in September, the shortlist seems to satisfy book critics. Only two of the books have been nominated for other big prizes in Canada: Inside by Alix Ohlin was shortlisted for the Rogers Writer’s Trust Prize for Fiction. Earlier this month, Ohlin was subject to a particularly dismissive review at the New York Times, but her nominations for two of Canada's three major literary awards proves that Canadian critics think otherwise. Julie Wilson at 49th Shelf interviews Ohlin about Inside and the infamous New York Times review. As well, Kim Thuy’s Ru has been nominated for the Governor’s General award for Translation (by Sheila Fischman). Ru won the Governor General's Award for Fiction in French in 2010. Will Ferguson is an interesting choice here, since he is predominantly a humour writer. However, Anna Porter, one of the jurists, explains that “[i]t is tempting to put 419 in some easy genre category, but that would only serve to deny its accomplishment and genius.” The other two titles are relative newcomers to the awards circuit; Whirl Away is a short story collection and The Imposter Bride is a historical novel set in post-war Montreal.

Ferguson has already been deemed the “front-runner” for the prize, according to the Globe & Mail. However, my pick for the prize is the delightful Kim Thuy, whose book is a entrancing collection of vignettes documenting an escape from Vietnam in the 70s. I also have a personal reason for championing this book, as I got a chance to meet her earlier this year. She appeared at a bookstore event and captivated the audience as she spoke of her experience as a refugee in Burma, her first years in Montreal, her search for a profession, and her writing experience. It was great!

The winner will be announced on October 30th.

Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize Nominees

Last week, the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize shortlist was announced. This is a lucrative prize, offering $25,000 to the winner. To this year's shortlisted nominees, it will mean that much more, as 4 of the 5 nominees are from independent presses. Here is the list:



Tim Bowling | The Tinsmith
Published by Brindle & Glass Publishing



Tamas Dobozy | Siege 13
Published by Thomas Allen Publishers



Rawi Hage | Carnival
Published by House of Anansi Press



Alix Ohlin | Inside
Published by House of Anansi Press



Linda Spalding | The Purchase
Published by McClelland & Stewart

(from Writers' Trust of Canada)

Alix Ohlin's Inside is longlisted for the Giller. Rawi Hage is a previous winner of the IMPAC Dublin Award for his novel De Niro's Game - interestingly, his previous two novels, De Niro's Game and Cockroach, were also shortlisted for the Writer's Trust Prize.

This year's jury consists of Esi Edugyan, Lynn Coady and Drew Hayden Taylor. The award will be announced on November 7th.

Read more about the shortlist at Quill & Quire.

Scotiabank Giller Prize longlist announced

Today the 2012 Scotiabank Giller Prize longlist was announced, separating 13 titles from the hundreds published in Canada since October 1st, 2011. The Giller jury this year consists of Gary Shteyngart, Roddy Doyle and Anna Porter, and perhaps the quirky jurors reflect on the quirky list. Several previous winners, including Vincent Lam and Linden MacIntyre, were not considered. The list is left to relative newcomers:

Marjorie Celona for her novel Y, published by Hamish Hamilton Canada
Lauren B. Davis for her novel Our Daily Bread, published by HarperCollins Canada
Cary Fagan for his short story collection My Life Among the Apes, published by Cormorant Books
Will Ferguson for his novel 419, published by Viking Canada
Robert Hough for his novel Dr. Brinkley’s Tower, published by House of Anansi Press
Billie Livingston for her novel One Good Hustle, published by Random House Canada
Annabel Lyon for her novel The Sweet Girl, published by Random House Canada
Alix Ohlin for her novel Inside, published by House of Anansi Press
Katrina Onstad for her novel Everybody Has Everything, published by McClelland & Stewart
CS Richardson for his novel The Emperor of Paris, published by Doubleday Canada
Nancy Richler for her novel The Imposter Bride, published by HarperCollins Canada
Kim Thúy for her novel Ru, translated by Sheila Fischman, published by Random House Canada
Russell Wangersky for his short story collection Whirl Away, published by Thomas Allen Publishers

Of the nominees, only Annabel Lyon has been nominated before, for The Golden Mean, the book to which her 2012 offering is a sequel. Will Ferguson may be familiar as a Stephen Leacock Medal-winning humourist; 419 is decidedly not humour. Kim Thuy's novel Ru was orginally written in French and won the 2010 Governor General's Award for Fiction in French. 

It is a wide open award this year! Such is the excitement of awards season. 

For more info on the prize and the nominees, read this article by Quill & Quire, or check out the Scotiabank Giller Prize home site.  

Scotiabank Giller Longlist Announced September 4th

On September 4th, the Scotiabank Giller Prize Longlist will be announced. It made me think about the best Canadian books I've read this year. So far I've read The Headmaster's Wager by Vincent Lam, which I liked a lot, and I've started All Men Are Liars by Alberto Manguel, which I am enjoying thus far. As far as I can tell, the prize is wide open! Check out the news about the award and the eligible books at the Scotiabank Giller Prize homepage.

Giller Prize Fiasco

On Tuesday night, the 2010 Scotiabank Giller Prize was announced: Johanna Skibsrud had won for her first novel, The Sentimentalists. The prize is worth $50,000 to the author, and thousands more in increased sales as readers get their hands on the biggest Canadian book of the year. However, there is a problem:

"Only 800 copies of The Sentimentalists were originally printed by small publishing house Gaspereau Press in the first run. The book's inclusion among the Giller Prize finalists forced the small five-person operation to print about 1,000 copies a week in an attempt to keep up with demand. A Giller win usually leads to an explosion in sales, so the small press may face a struggle in the weeks ahead."

This “struggle” has turned into a fight for the books. The demand for the book is closer to 1000 a day across the country, and the small press is now saying that they may not ship to large companies like Indigo Books & Music. Indigo, however, has thousands of books on order with no guarantee that they’ll receive the books by Christmas, if at all:

On Wednesday, Gaspereau said that despite the Giller win and a flood of requests for The Sentimentalists, it was sticking to its policy of making its books locally with no outsourcing. But on Thursday, Gaspereau co-owner Gary Dunfield said he and fellow publisher Andrew Steeves were considering several ways to produce the book more quickly.

Let’s hope for the author’s sake that they find that solution soon. Everyone loves small presses, but if it is not willing (or able) to accommodate the demand, what good is it doing the author? Ms. Skibsrud is an instant celebrity and every reader in the country wants to read her prize-winning novel. So what is Gaspereau Press doing? Shouldn’t the author be the first priority? “Getting the story out to thousands of curious readers is ‘certainly one of the priorities,’ Dunfield said. ‘Is it the main priority? What's the main priority? I don't know.’” I hope that future authors consider this statement when Gaspereau Press seeks to publish its next title.

from cbc.ca/arts/books

Giller Prize announced

On Tuesday the Scotiabank Giller prize was awarded to Joseph Boyden's Through Black Spruce. Read the story synopsis here. It's getting rave reviews, and, though there is no way to actually verify this, I predicted that this book would win. Honestly, I did! Anyway, the Giller prize is an annual literary event, complete with large cash prize ($50,000), celebrity-filled gala and television coverage. Everything that Harper hates about the arts. It raises the profile of Canadian writers in general and the shortlist nominees in particular. And Canadian writing elevates the profile of Canada in the world as well as contributing to a continually-changing sense of Canadian "identity". In all, it's a good thing. Read more at the Scotiabank Giller Prize website: http://www.scotiabankgillerprize.ca/

More Book Award Lists

The Giller Prize shortlist was released this week:

Cockroach - Rawi Hage
Through Black Spruce - Joseph Boyden
Barnacle Love - Anthony De Sa
Good to a Fault - Marina Endicott
The Boys In The Trees - Mary Swan

The Giller Prize celebrates English-language Canadian authors and has a $50,000 payday. The jury this year consists of Margaret Atwood, Bob Rae and author Colm Toibin. How Bob Rae finds time to judge a book contest is beyond me. Atwood says that this year's list put a "spotlight" on people "who might never have been there" - doesn't that seem a little like they shouldn't be there? Or is she saying that small publishers and new authors don't get the type of publicity that others do? (Perhaps that is why Miriam Toews wasn't nominated). A site I discovered today, Bookninja, has a different take: "The coverage around the Giller announcement... seems to be revolving around the “newness” of the names on the list. The Post even hints that the judges are more famous than the nominees. The Giller’s been criticized in the past for being an old boys and girls club, so I guess this is some antidote. I’m sure we’ll get around to asking why all the spots went to large presses." Coincidence? I think not. (Okay, now I admit to trying to stir the pot when there's no real controversy. I guess I am a little upset that Toews didn't get nominated. Then again, I haven't read that book, nor any other on the Giller shortlist. They could all very well be the best Canadian novels of this year.) The Giller winner will be named on November 11th.