The Giller Prize has revealed its longlist, with 14 books in contention for the award that recognizes “excellence in Canadian fiction.”
Three authors who’ve previously won the award were nominated this year: Souvankham Thammavongsa for Pick a Color, Ian Williams for You’ve Changed, and André Alexis for Other Worlds.
Mona Awad made the longlist for We Love You, Bunny, alongside Emma Donoghue for The Paris Express, Kirti Bhadresa for An Astonishment of Stars, Eddy Boudel Tan for The Tiger and the Cosmonaut, and Joanna Cockerline for Still.
Also nominated were The Sideways Life of Denny Voss by Holly Kennedy; The Life Cycle of the Common Octopus by Emma Knight; Wild Life by Amanda Leduc; We, the Kindling by Otoniya J. Okot Bitek; The Road Between Us by Bindu Suresh; and Sugaring Off, written by Fanny Britt and translated by Susan Ouriou.
The jurors for this year’s award are Canadian authors Dionne Irving, Loghan Paylor, and Deepa Rajagopalan. They said in a statement, “The power of the voices on this year’s longlist astonished the judges. These authors urgently compel readers to be transported, to be lifted up, and ultimately, to love.”
The Giller Prize was established in 1994. Previous winners include Rohinton Mistry for A Fine Balance, Esi Edugyan for Half-Blood Blues and Washington Black, and Omar El Akkad for What Strange Paradise.
The shortlist for this year’s award will be revealed on October 6, with the winner announced at a ceremony on November 17.
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
