The Scotiabank Giller Prize is the most lucrative literary award in Canada.
The $100,000 (CDN) is given to the year’s best work of Canadian fiction, as decided by five judges.
This year the five books that made the shortlist include, Washington Black by Esi Edugyan, who won in 2011 for her novel Half-Blood Blues, and a former finalist Patrick deWitt for French Exit.
The five novels are:
- French Exit by Patrick deWitt
- Songs for the Cold of Heart by Eric Dupont, translated by Peter McCambridge
- Washington Black by Esi Edugyan
- Motherhood by Sheila Heti
- An Ocean of Minutes by Thea Lim
The 2018 Scotiabank Giller Prize Gala event will be hosted by Rick Mercer and broadcast on CBC TV at 8 pm ET, and on Facebook and YouTube. (CBC)
Patrick de Witt’s second novel, The Sisters Brothers was also a Canadian Governor General’s Award-winner and Booker nominee and was recently released as a film starring Joaquin Phoenix, John C. Reilly, and Jake Gyllenhaal.
The shortlist was selected by a jury of five that this year is comprised of Canadian writers Heather O’Neill and Kamal Al-Solaylee, as well as Maxine Bailey, a Toronto International Film Festival executive, English novelist Philip Hensher and American writer John Freeman.
The red-carpet event takes place in Toronto’s Ritz Carlton Hotel.
The Scotiabank Giller Prize was established in memory of journalist and literary editor, Doris Giller, who lived and worked in Montreal and Toronto.
Following her death in the spring of 1993, her husband, Jack Rabinovitch established the award in 1994.
It was to be given to the Canadian author of a novel or short story collection, published in English (including translation) the previous year, following an annual juried competition between publishers who submit entries. At the time, there was a $25,000 (CDN) prize along with the honour.
In 2005 an endorsement deal was reached with Scotiabank, one of Canada’s major financial institutions. Following several incremental increases over the years. in 2014 the prize was established at $100,000 (CDN) for the winning author, and $10,000 (CDN) for each of the authors short listed.
To tune into the event:
ON TV: CBC Television will broadcast the gala at 8 p.m. local time (11:30 p.m. AT/12:00 a.m. NT).
ONLINE: CBC Books will livestream the gala at 8 p.m. ET on this page. The livestream will also be available on YouTube and Facebook.
ON THE RADIO: CBC Radio will air a broadcast special hosted by The Next Chapter host Shelagh Rogers and q columnist Jael Richardson at 8 p.m. (9 p.m. AT/9:30 p.m. NT).
(With files from CBC)
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