The Scotiabank Giller Prize 2007 Shortlist
The Scotiabank Giller Prize is named in honour of the late literary journalist Doris Giller. It awards $40,000 to the author of the best Canadian novel or short story collection published in English and $2,500 to each of the finalists.
The winner will be announced on November 6th. Here are this year’s finalists:
Elizabeth Hay, Late Nights on Air, McClelland & Stewart
Harry Boyd, who failed in television in Toronto, has returned to a small radio station in the Canadian North. There, in Yellowknife, in the summer of 1975, he falls in love with a voice on air, though the real woman is both a surprise and even more than he imagined.
Michael Ondaatje, Divisadero, McClelland & Stewart
In the 1970s in northern California, near Gold Rush country, a father and his teenage daughters work their farm with the help of Coop, an enigmatic young man who makes his home with them. Theirs is a makeshift family, until it is torn apart by an incident of violence.
Daniel Poliquin, A Secret Between Us, trans. Donald Winkler, Douglas & McIntyre
When young Lusignan sets off from Ottawa to the First World War with the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, he has already survived a tragicomic Catholic childhood and a writing career that has brought him both acclaim and disgrace. Shortly before the men depart for Europe, Lusignan has an encounter with a fellow officer, the aristocratic Essiambre d’Argenteuil, that proves to be the defining moment of his life.
M.G. Vassanji, The Assassin’s Song, Doubleday Canada
In The Assassin’s Song, Karsan Dargawalla tells the story of the medieval Sufi shrine of Pirbaag, and his betrayal of its legacy. But Karsan’s conflicted attempt to settle accounts quickly blossoms into a layered tale that spans centuries: from the mysterious Nur Fazal’s spiritual journeys through thirteenth century India, to his shrine’s eventual destruction in the horrifying "riots" of 2002.
Alissa York, Effigy, Random House Canada
Inspired by the real events of the Mountain Meadows Massacre in 1857, Alissa York blends fact with fiction in a haunting story of a family separated by secrets and united by faith.
The winner will be announced on November 6th. Here are this year’s finalists:
Elizabeth Hay, Late Nights on Air, McClelland & Stewart
Harry Boyd, who failed in television in Toronto, has returned to a small radio station in the Canadian North. There, in Yellowknife, in the summer of 1975, he falls in love with a voice on air, though the real woman is both a surprise and even more than he imagined.
Michael Ondaatje, Divisadero, McClelland & Stewart
In the 1970s in northern California, near Gold Rush country, a father and his teenage daughters work their farm with the help of Coop, an enigmatic young man who makes his home with them. Theirs is a makeshift family, until it is torn apart by an incident of violence.
Daniel Poliquin, A Secret Between Us, trans. Donald Winkler, Douglas & McIntyre
When young Lusignan sets off from Ottawa to the First World War with the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, he has already survived a tragicomic Catholic childhood and a writing career that has brought him both acclaim and disgrace. Shortly before the men depart for Europe, Lusignan has an encounter with a fellow officer, the aristocratic Essiambre d’Argenteuil, that proves to be the defining moment of his life.
M.G. Vassanji, The Assassin’s Song, Doubleday Canada
In The Assassin’s Song, Karsan Dargawalla tells the story of the medieval Sufi shrine of Pirbaag, and his betrayal of its legacy. But Karsan’s conflicted attempt to settle accounts quickly blossoms into a layered tale that spans centuries: from the mysterious Nur Fazal’s spiritual journeys through thirteenth century India, to his shrine’s eventual destruction in the horrifying "riots" of 2002.
Alissa York, Effigy, Random House Canada
Inspired by the real events of the Mountain Meadows Massacre in 1857, Alissa York blends fact with fiction in a haunting story of a family separated by secrets and united by faith.
