Author Richard B. Wright has won the 2001 Giller prize for his novel Clara Callan.

The winner was announced Tuesday night as the Canadian literary community honoured the finest fiction in the country.

Six finalists were chosen from a list of 78 authors.

"Since I didn't expect to win I didn't prepare any response to this," Wright said as he accepted a cheque for $25,000. "If you don't mind I'll just stand here for a few minutes and hyperventilate."

He then thanked his editor and wife.

In previous years, Canada's richest literary prize has been awarded to internationally known novelists such as Margaret Atwood and Mordecai Richler.

Wright, of St. Catharines, Ont., is also a finalist for this year's Governor General's award for literature, to be announced later this month.

Clara Callan tells the story of two sisters whose lives take very different paths. The jury said Wright is "a master at revealing the small dramas that unfold in what might appear to others as an unremarkable life."

One of Wright's previous books, The Age of Longing, was nominated for the Giller in 1995.

Wright was joined on this year's short list by such literary veterans as Jane Urquhart of Stratford, Ont., nominated for her novel The Stone Carvers and Sandra Birdsell of Regina for The Russlander.

Three first-time novelists rounded out the list: Michael Crummey of St. John's, Nfld., for River Thieves, Toronto resident Michael Redhill for Martin Sloane and Vancouver's Timothy Taylor for Stanley Park.

The Gillers were set up by philanthropist Jack Rabinovitch in memory of his late wife Doris, a literary journalist.