Giller Prize Shortlist revealed!

This morning, the shortlist for the Giller Prize was announced. The Giller Prize is one of Canada's top literary prizes. The winner will receive $50,000 and past winners include Michael Ondaatje, Margaret Atwood and Austin Clarke.

This years shortlist is:

The Matter With Morris by David Bergen
The Sentimentalists by Johanna Skibsrud
This Cake is for the Party by Sarah Selecky
Annabel by Kathleen Winter
Light Lifting by Alexander MacLeod

There quite a few things to note with this year's shortlist. David Bergen won this prize previously in 2005. Only M.G. Vassanji and Alice Munro have won the prize twice. David Bergen's book is also the only book on the list to be published by a major publishing house, the rest coming from indie firms.

Sarah Selecky and Alexander MacLeod's books are both short story collections and are their first books ever. Kathleen Winter and Johanna Skibsrud's entries are their first novels. Winter is known for her award winning short stories and Skibsrud for her poetry.

The winner will be announced at the Giller Prize gala in Toronto on November 9.

I have yet to read any of these selections, though I'm hoping to read them all by the time the prize is announced. So far I've read two books from the longlist and have started a third from it and I have been impressed by what I've read, so if these ones didn't make the shortlist then I can't wait to see the calibre of the work that did!

Comments

  1. AnonymousOctober 5, 2010 at 6:28 PM

    I haven't heard of this award and these titles are completely new to me! Annabel sounds absolutely fascinating :-)

    ReplyDelete

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