The Scotiabank Giller Prize Presents

its 2018 Shortlist

October 1, 2018

Today, at the Scotiabank Centre in Toronto, more than 100 media and members of the publishing industry gathered for the unveiling of the 2018 Scotiabank Giller Prize shortlist.

CBC Radio’s Gill Deacon hosted the special event, while 2018 jury members Kamal Al-Solaylee, Maxine Bailey, Philip Hensher and Heather O’Neill were on hand to announce the 2018 finalists and read citations for each title.

The five titles were chosen from a longlist of 12 books announced in St. John’s, NL on September 17, 2018. One hundred and four titles were submitted from publishers across the country.

This year the Prize celebrates its 25th anniversary.

The shortlist for the 2018 Scotiabank Giller Prize is:

Patrick deWitt for his novel French Exit, published by House of Anansi Press

Eric Dupont for his novel Songs for the Cold of Heart, translated by Peter McCambridge, published by QC Fiction, an imprint of Baraka Books

Esi Edugyan for her novel Washington Black, published by Patrick Crean Editions, an imprint of HarperCollins Canada

Sheila Heti for her novel Motherhood, published by Knopf Canada

Thea Lim for her novel An Ocean of Minutes, published by Viking Canada

The 2018 Scotiabank Giller Prize shortlisted books are available in accessible format for print-disabled Canadians through the National Network for Equitable Library Service NNELS (nnels.ca) and the Centre for Equitable Library Access CELA (celalibrary.ca).

CBC is pleased to announce the award winning comedian Rick Mercer as the host of the Scotiabank Giller Prize Gala on November 19. This is the third time that the political satirist and Newfoundland native has hosted the literary gala and it will be Mercer’s first on-air appearance as host since concluding his hugely successful 15-season run as host of CBC’s award-winning and beloved series The Rick Mercer Report.

The 2018 Scotiabank Giller Prize will air on Monday, November 19, on CBC at 8 p.m. ET (11:30 AT / Midnight NT), CBC Radio One at 8 p.m. ET (9:00 AT/ 9:30 NT) and will be livestreamed at CBCBooks.ca at 8 p.m. ET.

Quotes

“I couldn’t be more delighted for these five authors. Their books reflect the breadth and width of human experience, creativity and consciousness. The Canadian literature we are seeing continues to deepen and expand in quality and excellence. I’m proud that the Scotiabank Giller Prize can help highlight such important works.”
– Elana Rabinovitch, Executive Director, Scotiabank Giller Prize

“Congratulations to the shortlisted authors! Scotiabank is proud to support the great works of our country’s talented fiction writers through the Scotiabank Giller Prize. We will once again be taking these authors to five Canadian cities, as well as New York City and London England, for readings of their works, as part of the Between the Pages series of events. Our intent through these events is to help make the arts more accessible to communities across Canada and internationally. We are honoured to continue to work with the Rabinovitch family to celebrate Canadian literature through the Scotiabank Giller Prize, and congratulate them on 25 inspiring years.”
– John Doig, Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, Scotiabank

Between the Pages: An Evening with the Scotiabank Giller Prize Finalists

Between the Pages: An Evening with the Scotiabank Giller Prize Finalists will take you inside the minds and creative lives of the writers on the 2018 shortlist. All venues are wheelchair accessible and an American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter will be present.

The Scotiabank Giller Prize is delighted to present the Between the Pages series of readings featuring this year’s shortlisted authors, taking place in:

  • Calgary – October 11;
  • Vancouver – October 15;
  • Halifax – October 25;
  • Ottawa – October 30;
  • Toronto – November 5;
  • New York City – November 7; and,
  • London, U.K. – November 15.

For more information, please visit our events page.