Results tagged “gillerprize”

Linden MacIntyre! His novel, The Bishop's Man, is a complex, nuanced portrayal of a Catholic priest dealing with the aftermath of sexual abuse scandals, and bested the four other short-listed authors to take home the most prestigious literary prize in Canada.

The clock is ticking, usually reticent authors are primping, and in a few short hours Canada's literary establishment will be donning tuxedos and evening gowns in preparation for tonight's Giller Prize black-tie gala dinner and awards ceremony. Writers typically tend to elbow patches and cozy knits—the "sequins and spit-shine shoe" look comes but once a year. The Giller is the most prestigious of Canada's literary awards, guaranteeing the winner a firm spot on the bestseller list through the peak holiday shopping season and providing a level of exposure few fiction writers are lucky to find in this country. (To a lesser extent, all the shortlisted writers see these benefits.)

Today's Events

The contenders for Canada's most prestigious literary award, the Giller Prize, were announced a few minutes ago. On the shortlist this year are: Kim Echlin for The Disappeared (Hamish Hamilton); Annabel Lyon for The Golden Mean (Random House); Linden MacIntyre for The Bishop's Man (Random House); Colin McAdam for Fall (Hamish Hamilton); Anne Michaels for The Winter Vault (McClelland & Stewart). This is one of those times when just being nominated really is a boon—shortlisted authors routinely see a significant spike in sales and exposure. The winner of the Giller almost inevitably becomes a national bestseller, in addition to claiming the fifty-thousand-dollar prize.

Well, it's official. This year's Giller Prize has been awarded to Elizabeth Hay for her novel, Late Nights on Air.

It's going to be a busy couple of weeks in Toronto, and you may have a tough time deciding just what bookish thing to attend. If anything, Torontoist recommends you check out this year's second Toronto Small Press Book Fair this Saturday. The twice-yearly event features a variety of micro to medium-sized presses offering zines, books, chapbooks, journals, hand-made crafts, and many other wonderful things. And if you've got any time and energy left after the fair, you also might want to head down to the Cervejaria, where the Toronto Poetry Slam will be celebrating their second anniversary. There will be a spoken word competition, featuring the spoken word folk band, The Fugitives.

"Coach House Alley" by chelseagirl

Photo by Word Freak

Monday morning, amidst a first-rate buffet of coffee, chocolate chip cookies, and fresh orange juice at the Four Seasons Hotel, a disheveled group of journalists and bankers gathered to hear the shortlist announced for the 14th annual Scotiabank Giller Prize. Only the second year that the final contenders were culled from an initial longlist of 15 books, this annum the task fell to the jury of staunch decipherers David Bergen, Camilla Gibb and Lorna Goodison. All three affected a slightly bemused expressions when founder Jack Rabinovitch reminded them of the fact in his opening statements, presumably as the memory of tackling so many novels in just under a month physically caught up with them. Cookies and coffee indeed: it’s a miracle they could even read their entries out at the podium.

Photo by EIFF.

"March of the Penguins" by BrynJ.

An overflowing pile of books by paolo_dlk from the Torontoist Flickr Pool.

A big congratulations goes out to Toronto-based press House of Anansi for publishing this year’s ReLit short story winner, Bill Gaston’s Gargoyles. The ReLit award is set up to give well deserved attention to books produced by the independent presses throughout Canada. House of Anansi’s winning entry is joined a number of its other publications on the poetry and novel short list. (Also nominated for the long list was Torontoist’s very own Sharon Harris for her wonderful book Avatar.)

If you’d like weekly emails full of Toronto literary listings, sign up at Patchy Squirrel, a new offering from Stuart Ross and Dani Couture. Stuart launches a new collection of poetry, I Cut My Finger (Anvil Press) with Kate Sutherland's All In Together Girls (fiction from Thistledown Press) Sunday, April 22, 8 p.m. at Clintons Tavern (back room), 693 Bloor West.

While trolling Craigslist, we came across an intriguing apartment listing. Does your heart belong to the Annex -- home to sushiterias, frat houses, and highbrow cultural elite like Margaret Atwood and Adrienne Clarkson? Move to the neighbourhood, and you too could be closer to a Giller Prize win.

Award-winning Toronto author (and emergency physician) Vincent Lam will give his first public reading since winning the Scotiabank Giller Prize this Wednesday as Diaspora Dialogues teams up with the Harbourfront Centre’s International Reading series.

Torontoist, in reality being totally above caring about the Britney Spears divorce, is only excited that Toronto Doctor Vincent Lam won the Giller Prize for his first collection of short stories, Bloodletting & Miraculous Cures. Torontoist reviewed the book way back in the day.

Who's going to come out on top of the strangest Giller Prize shortlist in years? While the smart money is on Rawi Hage's DeNiro's Game, which is also nominated for the Governor General's Award, writers from the Globe raised a convincing argument for Gaetan Soucy's the Immaculate Conception.

The Ryerson Review of Journalism is one of the most acclaimed magazines in the country – and it’s run entirely by the students of Ryerson University’s school of journalism. Running a national magazine is a costly endeavour, so to fill the coffers the RRJ is hosting a black-tie fundraiser this Tuesday night. It promises to be a good one.

No time…Must get back down to Harbourfront…IFOA in full swing…Here are some other literary events taking place this week….

Monday

If film buffs get the TIFF, art buffs get the Queen West Art Crawl, and hockey buffs get the NHL playoffs, then literary types get the IFOA. This year's fest packs in dozens of authors and into 10 days worth of readings, panel discussions, interviews and parties. Yes, once in a while literary types put down their books and drink.

Today Joe Fiorito launched his new book, Union Station, at the Nicholas Hoare book store.

) short-story wunderkind was shut out of the hometown prize last year but went on to get nods elsewhere, winning pretty much every other literary award around, including the most recent Toronto Book Award. Since both authors happen to be relative outsiders in the small-ish Canadian publishing community, it begs the question, Could the Gillers be one big popularity contest, like a grown-up junior high? Say it ain’t so, Jack.