What is the Giller Prize?
The Giller Prize is the equivalent of Britain's Booker Prize and Australia's Miles Franklin Literary Award. It was set up in 1994 by Toronto businessman Jack Rabinovitch in honour of his late wife, literary journalist Doris Giller. The winning author of the best Canadian novel or short story collection published in English takes home $50,000 (£31,300).
What is the Shadow Giller?
The Shadow Giller was set up in 1995 by KevinfromCanada — when he was publisher of the Calgary Herald — the book editor of the Herald Ken McGoogan and a local author, Robert Hilles.
The idea is that members of the Shadow Giller jury read all the books on the longlist and determine their own winner in advance of the real announcement.
In 2011, there were four of us on the Shadow Giller jury. For 2012, the jury remains unchanged. It comprises chair Kevin, Toronto-based journalist Alison Gzowski, USA-based blogger Trevor from The Mookse and the Gripes, and myself.
You can read more about how the Shadow Giller works over at Kevin's blog.
What are the key dates?
The longlist will be announced on September 4, 2012.
The shortlist will be announced on October 1, 2012.
(The shortlist comprised: 419 by Will Ferguson, Inside by Alix Ohlin, The Imposter Bride by Nancy Richler, Ru by Kim Thúy and Whirl Away by Russell Wangersky)
The Shadow Giller Prize jury will name its winner on October 29, 2012.
(We selected The Imposter Bride by Nancy Richler — KevinfromCanada's announcement)
The "real" Giller Prize will be named on October 30, 2012.
(The winner was 419 by Will Ferguson — KevinfromCanada's announcement)
Reviews of the winning novel:
419 by Will Ferguson
Reviews of the shortlisted novels:
Inside by Alix Ohlin
The Imposter Bride by Nancy Richler
Ru by Kim Thúy
Whirl Away by Russell Wangersky
Reviews of longlisted novels:
Y by Marjorie Celona
Our Daily Bread by Lauren B. Davis
My Life Among the Apes by Cary Fagan
Dr Brinkley's Tower by Robert Hough
One Good Hustle by Billie Livingston
The Sweet Girl by Annabel Lyon
Everybody has Everything by Katrina Onstad
The Emperor of Paris by CS Richardson
Please note, this page will be updated as and when books are reviewed.
