The Scotiabank Giller Prize Presents its 2015 Shortlist

October 5, 2015

Today, at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto, more than 100 media and members of the publishing industry gathered as the 2015 Scotiabank Giller Prize shortlist was unveiled.*

CBC Television's Rick Mercer hosted the special event. Jury members John Boyne, Alison Pick, Cecil Foster and Alexander MacLeod were on hand to announce the 2015 finalists and read a citation for each title.

The five titles were chosen from a longlist of 12 books announced on September 9, 2015. 168 titles were submitted by 63 publishers from every region of the country.

The books shortlisted for the 2015 Scotiabank Giller Prize are:

• André Alexis for his novel Fifteen Dogs, published by Coach House Books
• Samuel Archibald for his story collection Arvida, published by Biblioasis, translated from the French by Donald Winkler
• Rachel Cusk for her novel Outline, published by Harper Perennial, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
• Heather O'Neill for her story collection Daydreams of Angels, published by HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
• Anakana Schofield for her novel Martin John, published by A John Metcalf Book, an imprint of Biblioasis

The shortlist was selected by the esteemed five-member jury panel made up of Irish author John Boyne (Jury Chair), Canadian writers Cecil Foster, Alexander MacLeod and Alison Pick, and British author Helen Oyeyemi.

The 2015 Scotiabank Giller Prize shortlist books are available in accessible format for print-disabled Canadians through the National Network for Equitable Library Service (NNELS). NNELS is a digital library of accessible format books for Canadians with perceptual disabilities, made available through Canada’s public library network.

For the third year in a row, the Scotiabank Giller Prize will present a series of special readings featuring this year’s shortlisted authors, taking place in Vancouver on October 21, Halifax on November 2 and Toronto on November 9. Between the Pages: An Evening with the Scotiabank Giller Prize Finalists will take you inside the minds and creative lives of the 2015 shortlisted authors.

This year, the Scotiabank Giller Prize formed a partnership with Canada's foremost entertainment company, Cineplex Entertainment. "The relationship between cinema and the written word is a natural one," says Jack Rabinovitch. "We're so pleased that Canadians from coast to coast will catch a glimpse of the books shortlisted for the prize in special trailers featured at Cineplex’s 162 theatres across the country."

The 2015 Scotiabank Giller Prize award ceremony hosted by Rick Mercer, will air on CBC Television on Tuesday, November 10, at 9 p.m. (10 AT/10:30 NT), and will be live-streamed from cbcbooks.ca.

About the Prize

The Scotiabank Giller Prize strives to highlight the very best in Canadian fiction year after year. The prize awards $100,000 annually to the author of the best Canadian novel or short story collection published in English and $10,000 to each of the finalists. The award is named in honour of the late literary journalist Doris Giller and was founded in 1994 by her husband, Toronto businessman Jack Rabinovitch.

About Scotiabank

Through our global philanthropic program, Scotiabank and its employees support causes at a grassroots level. Recognized as a leader for our charitable donations and philanthropic activities, Scotiabank has contributed on average $50 million annually over the last five years to community causes around the world.

Scotiabank is Canada's international bank and a leading financial services provider in North America, Latin America, the Caribbean and Central America, and parts of Asia. We are dedicated to helping our 21 million customers become better off through a broad range of advice, products and services, including personal and commercial banking, wealth management and private banking, corporate and investment banking, and capital markets. With a team of more than 87,000 employees and assets of $863 billion (as at July 31, 2015), Scotiabank trades on the Toronto (TSX: BNS) and New York Exchanges (NYSE: BNS). Scotiabank distributes the Bank's media releases using Marketwired. For more information, please visit www.scotiabank.com and follow us on Twitter @ScotiabankNews.

About CBC/Radio-Canada

CBC/Radio-Canada is Canada's national public broadcaster and one of its largest cultural institutions. The Corporation is a leader in reaching Canadians on new platforms and delivers a comprehensive range of radio, television, internet, and satellite-based services. Deeply rooted in the regions, CBC/Radio-Canada is the only domestic broadcaster to offer diverse regional and cultural perspectives in English, French and eight Aboriginal languages.

A space for us all is CBC/Radio-Canada’s new strategy to modernize the public broadcaster and ensure that it continues to fulfill its mandate for Canadians and for future generations. Through to 2020, it will increase its investment in prime time television programming, and continue to create radio programs of the highest quality, while promoting the development of digital and mobile platforms and content.

About Cineplex Entertainment

Cineplex Inc. ("Cineplex") is one of Canada's leading entertainment companies and operates one of the most modern and fully digitized motion picture theatre circuits in the world. A top-tier Canadian brand, Cineplex operates numerous businesses including theatrical exhibition, food services, gaming, alternative programming (Front Row Centre Events), Cineplex Media, Cineplex Digital Solutions, Cineplex Digital Networks, and the online sale of home entertainment content through CineplexStore.com and on apps embedded in various electronic devices.  Cineplex is also a joint venture partner in SCENE – Canada’s largest entertainment loyalty program.

Cineplex is headquartered in Toronto, Canada, and operates 162 theatres with 1,652 screens from coast to coast, serving approximately 74 million guests annually through the following theatre brands: Cineplex Odeon, SilverCity, Galaxy Cinemas, Colossus, Coliseum, Scotiabank Theatres, Cineplex Cinemas, Cineplex VIP Cinemas, Famous Players and Cinema City.  Cineplex also owns and operates the UltraAVX, Poptopia, and Outtakes brands. Cineplex trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol CGX.

*Due to an unforeseen emergency on the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) site, the shortlist announcement was relocated to Bau-Xi Gallery. We greatly appreciate the AGO's support and assistance. We warmly thank Bau-Xi for so ably and generously taking on the event hosting duties on very short notice.

Media Enquiries

Elana Rabinovitch
elana@scotiabankgillerprize.ca
416-275-5418

Kristin McCleister
Scotiabank Communications - Sponsorships
Kristin.mccleister@scotiabank.com
416-933-0646

Sarah Van Lange
Director of Communications
Cineplex Entertainment
Sarah.VanLange@Cineplex.com
647-287-9582

Download the press release in PDF format here.

www.scotiabankgillerprize.ca
www.twitter.com/gillerprize
www.facebook.com/gillerprize

Note: As of press time, all book links were functional. In the event that they are not working properly, please contact the publisher.