Windsor

3 Giller Prize nominations beyond 'wildest dreams' of Windsor's Biblioasis

A Windsor book publisher is in a cheery mood after three of the authors on its roster made the Scotiabank Giller Prize long list.
Dan Wells of Biblioasis is seen posing alongside three books that made the Giller Prize short list.
Dan Wells of Biblioasis is seen posing alongside three books that made the Giller Prize short list. (Dale Molnar/CBC)

A Windsor book publisher is in a cheery mood after three of the authors on its roster made the Scotiabank Giller Prize long list.

Publisher Dan Wells told CBC News that Biblioasis had seen four of its books make the Giller Prize list in the past few years.

But getting three nominations at the same time was something completely unexpected.

"We were hopeful, but we certainly weren't counting on getting one [nomination]," Wells said Thursday. "Getting three is beyond our, really our wildest dreams."

The Biblioasis books that made the cut were:

While it is the authors that will be the recipient of a $100,000 cash prize should they win the Giller, Wells said that Biblioasis will benefit as well.

"We get to sell more copies of these books," he said, noting that the notoriety of a Giller nomination helps raise the public's awareness of these works.

The Giller's long list includes 12 books in total. The short list will be announced next month. The winner will be announced in November.

Local publisher celebrates Giller nominations

9 years ago
Duration 2:02
Biblioasis had three of its books nominated for the Giller Prize. It published "Confidence" by Russell Smith, "Martin John" by Anakana Schofield and "Arvida" by Samuel Archibald. Some of the book content discussed in this clip may offend some viewers.

With a report from the CBC's Dale Molnar