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Awards and Events, Autumn 20182018-11-16T21:02:11-05:00

Reading the 2018 Toronto Book Award

Five books on this year’s shortlist:

Dionne Brand’s edited anthology The Unpublished City (2018)

David Chariandy’s Brother (2017) *WINNER*

Carrianne Leung’s That Time I Loved You (2018)

Lee Maracle’s My Conversations with Canadians (2017)

Kerri Sakamoto’s Floating City (2018)

Reading the 2018 Giller Prize Longlist

Guessing at each book’s Giller-a-bility

Since the prize’s inception in 1994, I have been reading the Giller Prizelist. I haven’t read all of the nominees; I have read 85 (of 127). Many times, this list has introduced me to writers whose works would become favourites. This is not the only prizelist I follow, but it does mark the beginning of my in-earnest prizelist reading season and I look forward to it each year.

The 2018 Giller jury (Kamal Al-Solaylee, Maxine Bailey, John Freeman, Philip Hensher and Heather O’Neill) announced its shortlist on October 1st. This year, I’ve been invited to join the Giller Shadow Jury, a group initially begun by Kevin Peterson, who blogged at KevinFromCanada for many years. Naomi explains how Kevin began his Giller shadow reading in 1995. In Kevin’s honour, the Shadow Jury keeps the conversation about the Giller alive in his memory. He and I began exchanging emails in 2011 about CanLit and I always wonder what he would have to say about the current Giller’s titles. Meanwhile, we read on.

Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize

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✔Craig Davidson’s The Saturday Night Ghost Club
Esi Edugyan’s Washington Black 
Rawi Hage’s Beirut Hellfire Society
Jen Neale’s Land Mammals and Sea Creatures
✔Kathy Page’s Dear Evelyn **WINNER** 

Governor General’s Literary Award

Fiction in English

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Paige Cooper’s Zolitude
Rawi Hage’s Beirut Hellfire Society
Sarah Henstra’s The Red Word **WINNER**
Miriam Toews’ Women Talking
Joshua Whitehead’s Jonny Appleseed

Recent Prizelist and Event Reading

September 2018

August 2018

October 2017

David Chariandy’s Brother (2017)

October 27th, 2017|Categories: Canlit, Prizelists and Events, Reading Projects|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

Though set further north of the bluffs, David Chariandy's follow-up to his debut Soucouyant is every bit as family-soaked, its losses and sorrows cast

Even when I didn’t live in Toronto, I still watched this prizelist for books set in the city that I hoped to call home someday.

The International Festival of Authors brought me to Toronto many times before I actually moved to the city. It remains a favourite!

The ReLit Awards peer more closely at the books that are sometimes overlooked, those from smaller and independent presses.

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