SCOTIABANK GILLER PRIZE NOVEMBER 9, 2020 GALA SCOTIABANK GILLER PRIZE
WELCOMING REMARKS
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the 27th annual Scotiabank Giller Prize. I hope you enjoy the evening as we celebrate the very best in Canadian fiction for 2020.
Writers, like publishers and booksellers, have been faced with extraordinary challenges this year; cancelled book launches and tours, delayed publication dates and lost revenue. Trying to get books into the hands of readers across the country has been difficult. All the while, writers continue to do what they do best; bear witness to history – their own, the imagined and the real outside our doors.
And yet,despite the challenges, despite the social unrest, the racial injustice, the COVID-19 pandemic, we have, as in the past, received a flood of worthy Canadian titles. Books from across the country, from different communities and from diverse cultural groups, poured into our offices, along with a number of graphic novels, this being the first year we accepted works of that genre.
Our distinguished jurors - Canadian writers David Chariandy, Eden Robinson and Mark Sakamoto (jury chair), British- Canadian author Tom Rachman and Guardian culture critic, Claire Armitstead, read 118 books to select an initial longlist of 14 books. On October 5, the five finalists we honour tonight – Gil Adamson, David Bergen, Shani Mootoo, Emily St. John Mandel and Souvankham Thammavongsa - were chosen. You can read all about them and their wonderful books on the following pages.
You may have noticed that our gala looks a bit different this year. Instead of being held in the ballroom at the Four Seasons Hotel in downtown Toronto, we’re hosting a virtual event like no other. Our partner, CBC, will be airing our broadcast, presented commercial free by Scotiabank Wealth Management, to a wide Canadian audience. We’re thrilled that close to half a million viewers watch the Scotiabank Giller Prize, a wonderful tribute to Canadian fiction. We expect even more viewers tonight as the gala is being streamed on our website, YouTube channel and on our Facebook page. It’s also available on CBC Books, the free CBC Gem streaming service and you can listen to it on the CBC Listen App.
Finally and importantly, I’d like to recognize our ongoing unique and strong partnership with Scotiabank and their commitment to Canadian arts and literature. The gala tonight and our longevity is due to their ongoing, unwavering support and to their dedicated team.
So, grab a glass of wine, sit back and enjoy.
Elana Rabinovitch
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A message from JOHN DOIG Executive Champion of the Scotiabank Giller Prize
Welcome to the 27th annual Scotiabank Giller Prize.
In his book, The English Patient, Canadian author Michael
Ondaatje writes, “She had always wanted words, she loved them; grew on them. Words gave her clarity, brought reason, shape.” Tonight, we celebrate the power of words to shape stories, culture, connection. We recognize five incredible
Canadian authors who masterfully string words into stories that connect readers across the world.
This year, more than ever, we need to stay connected. While our annual event looks different, we’re as proud as ever to come together to celebrate Canadian literature and the writers who continue to inspire us with their words. Please join me in celebrating some of Canada’s most talented writers of 2020.
It’s Scotiabank’s honour to serve as the title sponsor of the
Scotiabank Giller Prize, an important Canadian tradition.
Enjoy your evening.
Sincerely,
John Doig
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WITH THANKS TO OUR BROADCAST PARTNER CBC AND THE GENIUSES AT BT/A
FOR TONIGHT’S TELECAST
Creative Producer BARRY AVRICH
Executive Producers BARRY AVRICH DANIELLE KAPPY Director DAVID RUSSELL Host ERIC MCCORMACK
Musical Guest DIANA KRALL Producers VINCE BUDA MARK SELBY Written By MARNI VAN DYKE Additional Writing ERIC MCCORMACK BARRY AVRICH Technical Producer NEIL STAITE Production Design KEN NG Locations VANCOUVER PUBLIC LIBRARY York Theatre, Vancouver
FOR CBC TELEVISION
General Manager, Programming SALLY CATTO Executive Director, Unscripted Content JENNIFER DETTMAN Executive Director Communications, Marketing, Brand & Research BONNIE BROWNLEE Senior Creative Director Communications, Marketing, Brand & Research MUNRO CULLEN Senior Director of Production, Unscripted Content ALEXANDRA LANE Executive in Charge of Programming, Arts GRAZYNA KRUPA Executive Producer, CBC Books and Literary Partnerships TARA MORA
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IN MEMORIAM
JACK RABINOVITCH 1930 - 2017
Beloved Founder of THE GILLER PRIZE
PAGE FIVE SCOTIABANK GILLER PRIZE
2020 JURY LONGLIST CITATION
“In this tumultuous year, the jurors took the
responsibility bestowed upon us by the Scotiabank ‘‘Giller Prize most seriously. 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.”
PAGE SIX SCOTIABANK GILLER PRIZE
2020 FINALIST GIL ADAMSON RIDGERUNNER House of Anansi Press
JURY CITATION:
“The long-awaited sequel to Gil Adamson’s hit The Outlander
moves the action forward a decade, returning the 13-year-old
son of the original protagonists to a forested land into which Tprisoners of the first world war are now hewing roads. The proximity of this new type of outlaw presents an existential
threat to young Jack, who takes refuge in his parents’ abandoned
shack with a price on his head after escaping the toxic hypocrisies
of ‘civilisation’. Drawing richly on both the Western and
on gothic fiction, Adamson evokes a mythic landscape to
frame the question: how is it possible to live a good life,
when obedience to man-made laws is so at odds with
love, loyalty and respect for the natural world?”
Gil Adamson is the critically acclaimed author of The
Outlander, which won the Dashiell Hammett Prize for
Gil Adamson Literary Excellence in Crime Writing, the Amazon.ca
First Novel Award, the ReLit Award, and the Drummer General’s
Award. It was a finalist for the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize,
CBC Canada Reads, and the Prix Femina in France; longlisted
for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award; and chosen
as a Globe and Mail and Washington Post Top 100 Book. She is
also the author of a collection of linked stories, Help Me, Jacques
Cousteau, and two poetry collections, Primitive and Ashland. She
lives in Toronto.
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2020 FINALIST DAVID BERGEN HERE THE DARK Biblioasis
JURY CITATION:
“A dying woman asks an aging rancher to become her last
lover. A fishing boat sputters to a halt off the coast of Honduras,
compelling its owner to decide the fate of his repellent client. AA young woman in a puritanical religious community glimpses the coloured world outside, and must choose whether to close
her eyes, or to run. Sexual loneliness and moral confusion pull at
the delicately wrought characters in David Bergen’s latest work,
a story collection of masterly skill and tension. His third
appearance on the Giller shortlist – including the 2005
winner, The Time in Between – affirms Bergen among
Canada’s most powerful writers. His pages light up; all
around falls into darkness”
David Bergen has published eight novels and a collection
of short stories. His work has been nominated for the
Governor General’s Literary Award, the Impac Dublin David Bergen
Literary Award, and a Pushcart Prize. He won the Giller Prize
for his novel The Time in Between. In 2018, he was given the
Writers’ Trust Matt Cohen Award: In Celebration of a Writing Life.
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2020 FINALIST SHANI MOOTOO POLAR VORTEX Book*hug Press
JURY CITATION:
“A keen meditation on the complexities of identity and desire,
Polar Vortex is the unsettling examination of a failing marriage.
In a small, southern Ontario town, Priya impulsively invites an old Asuitor, Prakesh, to spend the night and his arrival triggers the fault lines in her relationship with Alexandra. Conflicting wants and
untold truths drag the past into the present. Memories cascade and
clash as Mootoo masterfully dismantles the stories the narrators
tell themselves in language as unsparing as winter.”
Shani Mootoo was born in Ireland, grew up in Trinidad,
and lives in Canada. She holds an MA in English from
the University of Guelph, writes fiction and poetry, and
is a visual artist whose work has been exhibited locally
and internationally. Mootoo’s critically acclaimed novels
include Moving Forward Sideways Like a Crab, Valmiki’s
Shani Mootoo Daughter, He Drown She in the Sea, and Cereus Blooms
at Night. She is a recipient of the K.M. Hunter Artist Award, a
Chalmers Arts Fellowship, and the James Duggins Mid-Career
Novelist Award from the Lambda Literary Awards. Her work has
been long- and shortlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize, the
International DUBLIN Literary Award, and the Booker Prize. She
lives in Prince Edward County, Ontario.
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2020 FINALIST EMILY ST. JOHN MANDEL THE GLASS HOTEL HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
JURY CITATION:
“A boldly lyrical tale echoing the deceit and ruin of the 2008
financial crisis,The Glass Hotel brings together two restless
siblings and a multi-billion-dollar investor as they each negotiate Aambition, secrets, and loss within the kingdom of money. Bridging the natural beauty of the Pacific Northwest, the shops
and towers of Manhattan, and the netherworld of open waters,
the novel commands a broad array of characters and a plot of
kaleidoscopic intricacy. Here, in her eagerly anticipated
follow-up to Station Eleven, Emily St. John Mandel turns
her gifted attention to the mirages of now, and to the
truth that we are haunted, always, by the lives of others.”
Emily St. John Mandel Is the author of four novels,
most recently Station Eleven, which was a finalist for a
National Book Award and the PEN/Faulkner Award;
won the 2015 Arthur C. Clarke Award, the Toronto Book Emily St. John Mandel
Award and the Morning News Tournament of Books; and has
been translated into thirty-one languages. A previous novel,
The Singer’s Gun, was the 2014 winner of the Prix Mystère
de la Critique in France. Her short fiction and essays have
been anthologized in numerous collections, including
The Best American Mystery Stories 2013. She is a staff writer
for The Millions. She lives in New York City with her husband
and daughter.
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2020 FINALIST SOUVANKHAM THAMMAVONGSA HOW TO PRONOUNCE KNIFE McClelland & Stewart
JURY CITATION:
“The Scotiabank Giller Prize introduced me to Souvankham
Thammavongsa’s work. I could not be more grateful. How
to Pronounce Knife is a stunning collection of stories that Tportray the immigrant experience in achingly beautiful prose. The emotional expanse chronicled in this collection is truly
remarkable. These stories are vessels of hope, of hurt, of
rejection, of loss and of finding one’s footing in a new and
strange land. Thammavongsa’s fiction cuts to the core
of the immigrant reality like a knife – however you
pronounce it.”
Souvankham Thammavongsa is the author of four
poetry books: Light, winner of the Trillium Book Award
for Poetry; Found; Small Arguments, winner of the
ReLit Award; and, most recently, Cluster. Her fiction has
Souvankham Thammavongsa appeared in Harper’s, Granta, The Atlantic, The Paris
Review, Ploughshares, Best American Non-Required Reading,
The Journey Prize Stories, and The O. Henry Prize Stories. How
to Pronounce Knife is her debut book of fiction, and the title
story was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Short Story Prize.
Born in the Lao refugee camp in Nong Khai, Thailand, she was
raised and educated in Toronto, where she is at work on her
first novel.
PAGE ELEVEN SCOTIABANK GILLER PRIZE
About the JURY
CLAIRE ARMITSTEAD Claire Armitstead is Associate Editor, Culture, at The Guardian, where she has previously acted as arts editor, literary editor and head of books. She presents the weekly Guardian books podcast and is a regular commentator on radio, and at live events across the UK and internationally. She is a trustee of English PEN. DAVID CHARIANDY David Chariandy is a writer and critic. His first novel, Soucouyant, was nominated for eleven literary prizes, including the Governor General’s Award and the Scotiabank Giller Prize. His second novel, Brother, was nominated for fourteen prizes, winning the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize, the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize, and the Toronto Book Award. Brother was also widely translated and named a book of the year by The Globe and Mail, The National Post, The Toronto Star, The Montreal Gazette, Quill and Quire, the CBC, the New York Public Library, Kirkus Reviews, Esquire Magazine, and The Guardian. David’s most recent book is a memoir entitled I’ve Been Meaning to Tell You: A Letter to My Daughter. He lives in Vancouver and is an editor of Brick and a Professor of English at Simon Fraser University. In 2019, he was awarded Yale University’s Windham-Campbell Prize for fiction. TOM RACHMAN Tom Rachman is the author of four works of fiction, including the international bestseller The Imperfectionists (2010), which was longlisted for the Giller Prize, won the Canadian Authors Award for Fiction, and was named a New York Times book of the year. His most recent novel, The Italian Teacher (2018), was shortlisted for both the Costa Award and the South Bank Sky Arts Award. Rachman has written for the Globe & Mail, the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, the Times Literary Supplement, and the New Yorker and Atlantic online. Born in London, he was raised in Vancouver, attended the University of Toronto and Columbia University, and worked as a journalist for the Associated Press in Rome and the International Herald Tribune in Paris. He is based in London. EDEN ROBINSON Eden Robinson is a Haisla/Heiltsuk author who grew up in Haisla, British Columbia. Her first book,Traplines , a collection of short stories, won the Winifred Holtby Memorial Prize and was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year in 1998. Monkey Beach, her first novel, was shortlisted for both The Giller Prize and the Governor General’s Literary Award for fiction in 2000 and won the BC Book Prize’s Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize. Her novel Son of a Trickster was shortlisted for The Giller Prize. Her latest novel is its sequel, Trickster Drift, which won the 2019 Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize. MARK SAKAMOTO A lawyer by training, Mark has enjoyed a rich and varied career. He began his professional career in live music, working with several international acts. He has worked at a national law firm, a national broadcaster and has served as a senior political advisor to a national party leader. He is an entrepreneur and investor in digital health and digital media. Mark is the Executive Vice-President for Think Research, an international big data health firm in Toronto. In that capacity, he is responsible for driving all aspects of business development. Sakamoto’s book, Forgiveness: A Gift from My Grandparents won CBC Canada Reads and has been a #1 national best seller in two separate years. It is currently being developed for screen and theatre. Mark is the host and executive producer of Good People, a CBC television series which explores societal problems and scours the planet for hopeful places and solutions. He lives in Toronto with his wife and their two daughters.
PAGE TWELVE SCOTIABANK GILLER PRIZE
PAST WINNERS
1994 Winner M.G. VASSANJI The 94Book of Secrets McClelland & Stewart
1995 Winner ROHINTON MISTRY 95A Fine Balance McClelland & Stewart
1996 Winner MARGARET ATWOOD Alias96 Grace McClelland & Stewart
1997 Winner MORDECAI RICHLER 97Barney’s Version Alfred A. Knopf Canada
1998 Winner ALICE MUNRO The 98Love of a Good Woman McClelland & Stewart / Douglas Gibson Books
PAGE THIRTEEN SCOTIABANK GILLER PRIZE
PAST WINNERS
Continued
1999 Winner BONNIE BURNARD A Good99 House HarperFlamingoCanada / A Phyllis Bruce Book
2000 Winner MICHAEL ONDAATJE 00Anil’s Ghost McClelland & Stewart
2000 Winner DAVID ADAMS RICHARDS Mercy00 Among the Children Doubleday Canada
2001 Winner RICHARD B. WRIGHT 01Clara Callan HarperFlamingoCanada / A Phyllis Bruce Book
2002 Winner AUSTIN CLARKE The 02Polished Hoe Thomas Allen Publishers
PAGE FOURTEEN SCOTIABANK GILLER PRIZE
PAST WINNERS
Continued
2003 Winner M.G. VASSANJI 03The In-Between World of Vikram Lall Doubleday Canada
2004 Winner ALICE MUNRO Runaway04 McClelland & Stewart / Douglas Gibson Books
2005 Winner DAVID BERGEN 05The Time in Between McClelland & Stewart
2006 Winner VINCENT LAM Bloodletting06 & Miraculous Cures Doubleday Canada
2007 Winner ELIZABETH HAY 07Late Nights on Air McClelland & Stewart
PAGE FIFTEEN SCOTIABANK GILLER PRIZE
PAST WINNERS
Continued
2008 Winner JOSEPH BOYDEN Through08 Black Spruce Viking Canada / Penguin Group (Canada)
2009 Winner LINDEN MACINTYRE 09The Bishop’s Man Random House Canada
2010 Winner JOHANNA SKIBSRUD The 10Sentimentalists Gaspereau Press
2011 Winner ESI EDUGYAN Half-Blood11 Blues Thomas Allen Publishers
2012 Winner WILL12 FERGUSON 419 Viking Canada/Penguin Canada
2013 Winner 13LYNN COADY Hellgoing House of Anansi Press
PAGE SIXTEEN SCOTIABANK GILLER PRIZE
PAST WINNERS
Continued
2014 Winner 14SEAN MICHAELS Us Conductors Random House Canada
2015 Winner ANDRÉ 15ALEXIS Fifteen Dogs Coach House Books
2016 Winner MADELEINE THIEN Do 16Not Say We Have Nothing Alfred A. Knopf Canada
2017 Winner MICHAEL REDHILL Bellevue 17Square Doubleday Canada
2018 Winner ESI EDUGYAN 18Washington Black Patrick Crean Editions
2019 Winner IAN WILLIAMS Reproduction19 Random House Canada
PAGE SEVENTEEN SCOTIABANK GILLER PRIZE
About the FINALISTS’ PUBLISHERS
Biblioasis Biblioasis is a literary press committed to publishing the best fiction, non-fiction, and poetry in beautifully crafted editions. Founded in 2004 in Windsor, Ontario, by publisher Dan Wells, Biblioasis has grown into one of Canada’s leading independent presses: our titles have won or been shortlisted for the RBC Taylor Prize, the Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction, the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize, the Scotiabank Giller Prize, the Governor General’s Award, and the Booker Prize. We celebrate a diverse list of writers and seek out innovative writing within Canada and internationally. We are also affiliated with our own independent bookstore, Biblioasis Bookshop, and we publish the magazine Canadian Notes & Queries. Book*hug Press Celebrating adventures in literary publishing since 2004, Book*hug Press is a radically optimistic Canadian independent literary press working at the forefront of contemporary book culture. Our mission is to publish work that meaningfully contributes to and reflects culture and society; books that challenge and push at the boundaries of cultural expectations. We aim to acquire literary work that is bold, challenging, innovative, and takes risks; writing that feels necessary and urgent. Book*hug Press has made an impressive mark on the Canadian literary landscape in a relatively short span of time. This was helped by a promise we made early on to remain open to change and to be adaptable to the changing needs of the culture to which the press contributes. Book*hug Press is deeply committed to publishing culturally diverse voices whose work has been historically underrepresented in the publishing landscape. HarperCollins Publishers Known worldwide for the quality of its list, HarperCollinsCanada is the proud home of many bestselling authors, including Esi Edugyan, Heather O’Neill, Lawrence Hill, Kamal Al-Solaylee, Mark Sakamoto, Ayelet Tsabari, Emily St. John Mandel, Tracey Lindberg, Tara Westover, Hilary Mantel, Rachel Cusk, Anthony Horowitz, Uzma Jalaluddin, Catherine Hernandez, Carrianne Leung, Ellen Keith, Jael Richardson, Emma Donoghue, Helen Humphreys, and Thomas King, among many more found at harpercollins.ca. HarperCollins Publishers is the second largest consumer book publisher in the world, with operations in 17 countries. With 200 years of history and more than 120 branded imprints around the world, HarperCollins publishes approximately 10,000 new books every year in 16 languages, and has a print and digital catalog of more than 200,000 titles. House of Anansi House of Anansi Press was founded in 1967 by writers Dennis Lee and David Godfrey. Anansi started as a small press with a mandate to publish Canadian writers, and quickly gained attention for publishing authors such as Margaret Atwood, Matt Cohen, Michael Ondaatje, and Erín Moure, as well as George Grant and Northrop Frye. French-Canadian works in translation have always been an important part of the list, and prominent Anansi authors in translation include Roch Carrier, Marie-Claire Blais, Anne Hébert, and France Daigle. Today, the company specializes in finding and developing Canadian writers of literary fiction, poetry, drama, and nonfiction, including Katherena Vermette, Lisa Moore, Patrick DeWitt, Lynn Coady, Rawi Hage, Kathleen Winter, Zoe Whittall, and Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, and in maintaining the culturally significant backlist that has accumulated in the decades since the house was founded. McClelland & Stewart For more than 100 years, McClelland & Stewart, a division of Penguin Random House Canada, has helped to shape and champion Canada’s cultural conversation. It continues to assert an independent spirit by taking bold risks that push the boundaries of literary excellence, challenging the status quo, and reflecting the rich and diverse range of voices in Canada and from around the world. For more information visit penguinrandomhouse.ca.
PAGE EIGHTEEN Warmest thanks to our partner:
SCOTIABANK
&
THE SCOTIABANK GILLER PRIZE
ADVISORY BOARD
Margaret Atwood
Jared Bland
Susanne Boyce
Stephen Marche
Megan Porter
Daphna Rabinovitch
Noni Rabinovitch
Hon. Bob Rae
Gerald Sheff
Phyllis Yaffe Enormous thanks to our invaluable partners and sponsors
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