The Scotiabank Giller Prize was founded in 1994 by the late Jack Rabinovitch in honour of his wife, the late literary journalist Doris Giller. The prize awards $100,000 annually to the author of the best Canadian novel or short story collection published in English, and $10,000 to each of the finalists.
The 2020 Giller Prize jury members are: Claire Armitstead, David Chariandy, Tom Rachman, Eden Robinson, and Mark Sakamoto (jury chair).
“We were determined to find the most powerful pieces of fiction published this year. And, despite the difficulties posed by the pandemic, we experienced an embarrassment of riches. Exquisite prose has emerged from many parts of Canada and multiple walks of life; and we have filled our months with witty, intense and achingly beautiful stories.”
“We are proud of the collection of books that has emerged from our lengthy debates; and we believe that this longlist is but one clear reflection of the talent and global relevance of Canadian writers. To the nominees, we offer our sincere gratitude and our heartfelt congratulations.”
This year I will be joining Penny from Literary Hoarders, Lindy from Lindy Reads and Reviews, and Kate, creative genius on the Giller Prize Shadow Jury. The shortlist will be announced on October 5th, after which we will be reading and reviewing the books on the shortlist, and making our shadow selection a few days before the real winner is announced on November 9th.
Here’s the longlist (announced September 8th):
Ridgerunner by Gil Adamson, published by House of Anansi
Here the Dark by David Bergen, published by Biblioasis
Watching You Without Me by Lynn Coady, House of Anansi
All I Ask by Eva Crocker, House of Anansi
The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue, HarperCollins Canada
Butter Honey Pig Bread by Francesca Ekwuyasi, Arsenal Pulp Press
Five Little Indians by Michelle Good, Harper Perennial
Dominoes at the Crossroads by Kaie Kellough, Esplanade Books
Indians on Vacation by Thomas King, HarperCollins
Consent by Annabel Lyon, Random House Canada
Polar Vortex by Shani Mootoo, Book*hug Press
The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel, HarperCollins
Clyde Fans by Seth, Drawn & Quarterly
How To Pronounce Knife by Souvankham Thammavongsa, McClelland & Stewart
The four I have already read:
- Ridgerunner by Gil Adamson
- Here the Dark by David Bergen
- Watching You Without Me by Lynn Coady
- How To Pronounce Kinfe by Souvankham Thammavongsa (review to come)
Any thoughts on the Giller list this year? Surprises? Disappointments? Are you planning to read any of these?
Check out our new site for the Shadow Giller and follow along with our progress!
Consumed by Ink 
I loved How to Pronounce Knife right from its clever title. Very keen to read Ridgerunnner. Enjoy your shadowing, Naomi
Thanks, Susan! I love that How to Pronounce Knife has already been making the rounds! Isn’t it great?
The only one I’ve read is The Glass Hotel, which I loved. I enjoy reading your Giller Prize posts so much because you introduce me to things I don’t get to hear about (not publicized much in US media.)
I’m so glad to hear it, Laila! I hope some of them will eventually reach you.
I’m reading The Glass Hotel right now and loving it!
I’ve only read the Donoghue, which I had mixed feelings about. And I plan to read the Mandel. I’ll be excited to follow the shadow panel’s decision-making!
I’m a little wary of the Donoghue myself if the ending is anything like the ending in Wonder. However, I’m sure the story itself will be entertaining.
I’m reading the Mandel right now and loving it so far!
It’s always fun to have you follow along, Rebecca! 🙂
I haven’t read any which surprised me but there are several on my TBR.
I’m always pleasantly surprised when I *have* read any of them! 🙂
Oh, I didn’t know you were doing the Shadow Jury again. Is Alison joining, too?
Not this year, I don’t think. Are you interested in coming back this year?! 🙂
It depends on how easy it is to get the shortlisted titles here in Australia. I’m not sure if they will be readily available but perhaps I could do a guest post or two if I can get hold of any of the books. My local library is excellent but it’s focus is mainly new Australian lit. Let me know what you think
Anything you’re able to do would be great! Did you see the new site?
https://shadowgiller.wordpress.com/
Oh, the site looks great!
It does! Penny did a great job!
Feel free to email me any time! 🙂
I must say I’m relieved that I’ve read many books on this list already! haha I’m excited to see Ridgerunner on there, and I want to read Eva Crocker’s book. I’ve got a few on my shelf that I’d like to get into but I may want until the shortlist to dive in!
It’s always nice to have some of them already read – it makes reading a good chunk of them seem doable!
Oh I do love seeing what you’re all reading and loving in Canada – I always pick up a couple of amazing new books for my wishlist. I’m planning on reading The Pull of the Stars next as I’m on a bit of a pandemic binge – good luck with the shadowing!
Pandemic binge… I like the sound of that! There don’t seem to be many of us around who are reading books like that these days!
Now that I’ve started, it’s hard to stop!
At least I’ve heard of most of the titles this year, although I’ve not read any. I do plan to get to How to Pronounce Knife before the end of the year.
That’s a great one!
I’ve only read a couple of them so far, but they seem to be readily available through the library this year, which is nice. Or, at least they were readily available, maybe I won’t be able to renew any of them, which means I’d better get busy reading! LOL
It doesn’t usually take you long to get caught up once you get to it! 🙂
I’ve read a couple more since posting this, but it’s getting time to write about them that takes me forever.