The Giller Foundation Announces New Slate of Book Clubs for 2022

December 29, 2021

2022 Giller Book Club

December 29, 2021 (Toronto, ON) – After the resounding success of last year’s Giller Book Club, the Giller Foundation is thrilled to announce the program’s return with a brand new lineup. The program will feature the authors on the 2021 longlist in conversation with notable writers, critics, past jury members, and academics.

The debut author and book will be 2021 winner Omar El Akkad, for his novel, What Strange Paradise. Professor and Head of the English Department at Queen’s University in Kingston, Dr. Sam McKegney, will interview El Akkad virtually on January 10, 2022, at 7 pm ET.

The Giller Book Club will run from January 2022, until the end of June. There will be eleven interviews with approximately two book clubs per month. The interviews will be streamed live. Visit www.scotiabankgillerprize.ca/giller-book-club for more information and to register.

This full 2022 Giller Book Club line-up is:

  • Omar El Akkad for his novel, What Strange Paradise – Interviewed by Dr. Sam McKegney on January 10
  • Angélique Lalonde for her story collection, Glorious Frazzled Beings – Interviewed by author and 2021 jury member, Joshua Ferris on February 7
  • Cheluchi Onyemelukwe-Onuobia for her novel, The Son of the House – Interviewed by author and literary critic, Donna Bailey Nurse on February 22
  • Jordan Tannahill for his novel, The Listeners – Interviewed by author and CBC host, Jael Richardson on March 7
  • Katherena Vermette for her novel, The Strangers – Interviewed by author Catherine Hernandez on March 21
  • Kim Thúy for her novel, Em – Interviewed by author Éric Dupont on April 4
  • Casey Plett for her novel, A Dream of a Woman – Interviewed by author and 2021 jury member, Joshua Whitehead on April 19
  • Rachel Rose for her short story collection, The Octopus Has Three Hearts – Interviewed by author Lynn Coady on May 2
  • Linda Rui Feng for her novel, Swimming Back to Trout River – Interviewed by author Gil Adamson on May 16
  • Aimee Wall for her novel, We, Jane – Interviewed by author and 2021 jury member Megan Gail Coles on June 6
  • Cedar Bowers for her novel, Astra – Interviewed by author Michael Christie on June 27

We’re also delighted to announce that Queen’s University, with support from the Giller Foundation, is introducing a capstone course in January 2022, entitled Modern/Contemporary Canadian Literature I: The Scotiabank Giller Prize and Literary Prize Culture. The course will be given by Dr. Sam McKegney and will explore ideological notions of “literary value” alongside institutional processes of “canon formation” through intensive analysis of the five works shortlisted for the current year’s Scotiabank Giller Prize—the richest prize in Canadian literature.

It gives us great pleasure to announce that 2022 Scotiabank Giller Prize winner, Omar El Akkad, will be the writer in residence at Queen’s University for its winter term running from January 2022, until March 2022.

About the Prize
The Giller Prize, founded by Jack Rabinovitch in 1994, highlights the very best in Canadian fiction year after year. In 2005, the Prize teamed up with Scotiabank who increased the winnings four-fold. The Scotiabank Giller Prize now awards $100,000 annually to the author of the best Canadian novel, graphic 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 by her husband Toronto businessman Jack Rabinovitch, who passed away in August 2017.

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For media inquiries, please contact:

Daphna Rabinovitch
daphna@scotiabankgillerprize.ca
416-525-3752