Giller Prize 2015: André Alexis, Heather O'Neill shortlisted
3 novels, 2 short story collections compete for $100K literary honour
Toronto's André Alexis and Montrealer Heather O'Neill are among the latest writers shortlisted for the $100,000 Scotiabank Giller Prize, among Canada's top literary honours.
Organizers of the fiction prize announced the finalists Monday morning at Toronto's Bau-Xi Gallery.
Four members of this year's jury — John Boyne, Alison Pick, Cecil Foster and Alexander MacLeod — were on hand to announce the finalists and read a citation for each title, whittled down from a long list of 12 announced last month.
The 2015 Scotiabank Giller Prize short list:
- Trinidad-born, Ottawa-raised André Alexis, now based in Toronto, nominated for his novel Fifteen Dogs.
- Quebec author Samuel Archibald, nominated for the English translation of his story collection Arvida, originally published in French in 2011.
- Toronto-born, U.K.-based Rachel Cusk, nominated for her novel Outline.
- Montrealer Heather O'Neill, nominated for her story collection Daydreams of Angels.
- Irish-Canadian writer Anakana Schofield, now based in Vancouver, nominated for her novel Martin John.
The five finalists will be celebrated and the winner announced at the Giller Prize gala in Toronto on Nov. 10. This year's host is CBC-TV's Rick Mercer, who also emceed Tuesday's short list announcement.
The ceremony will air on CBC-TV and will be live-streamed from cbcbooks.ca
The Giller Prize was established by businessman Jack Rabinovitch in 1994 to honour his wife, the late literary journalist Doris Giller.
The annual honour shines a light on the year's best English-Canadian fiction, whether in novel or short story form.
Along with $100,000 for the winner, the finalists each receive $10,000.
