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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 PAGE TWO SCOTIABANK GILLER PRIZE 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 PAGE THREE SCOTIABANK GILLER PRIZE 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 PAGE FOUR SCOTIABANK GILLER PRIZE 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. PAGE SEVEN SCOTIABANK GILLER PRIZE 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. PAGE EIGHT SCOTIABANK GILLER PRIZE 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. PAGE NINE SCOTIABANK GILLER PRIZE 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.