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Thursday, October 6, 2011

Giller Prize short list announced


Johanna Skibsrud, author of The Sentimentalists,
winner of the 2010 Giller Prize
 Contenders for this year's Giller Prize are:
David Bezmogzis for The Free World (HarperCollins)
Lynn Coady for The Antagonist (House of Anansi Press)
Patrick deWitt for The Sisters Brothers (House of Anansi Press)
Esi Edugyan for Half-Blood Blues (Thomas Allen Publishers)
Zsuzsi Gartner for Better Living Through Plastic Explosives (Hamish Hamilton Canada)
and Michael Ondaatje for The Cat's Table (McClelland & Stewart).

You can read the full annnouncement, with links to excerpts from each book here. The winner will be announced on November 8. In the meanwhile, Quick Brown Fox would welcome reviews of any of these books.

See Brian Henry's schedule here, including writing workshops and creative writing courses in Kingston, Peterborough, Toronto, Mississauga, Brampton, Georgetown, Oakville, Burlington, St. Catharines, Hamilton, Kitchener, Guelph, London, Woodstock, Orangeville, Barrie, Gravenhurst, Sudbury, Muskoka, Peel, Halton, the GTA, Ontario and beyond.

5 comments:

  1. It would be interesting to know how many Canadians have read even one of these books. Is there any data out there?

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  2. I'm twenty pages away from finishing "The Cat's Table."

    If time allows I will try my best at writing a review.

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  3. And I don't like posting as "Anonymous" but I've read that Heather Reismann (who owns Chapters) won't ever sell your book in her stores if you say something that she doesn't like and since I'm an aspiring writer (which is why I check out Brian's website occasionally) and "The Cat's Table" was one of "Heather's Picks" I'm afraid to be candid unless I hide behind anonymity.

    Isn't it interesting that Canada's biggest bookseller is also Canada's biggest censor?

    Maybe that's why so many of this country's writers pick "safe" topics to write about.

    Just a thought...

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  4. Hi, Anonymous.

    Where did you "read that Heather Reismann (who owns Chapters) won't ever sell your book in her stores if you say something that she doesn't like"?

    This strikes me as unlikely - as being the sort of rumoour that circulates on the web but that turns out not to have any basis.

    - Brian

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  5. P.S. I don't like posting as Anonymous, either. But a computer glitch prevents me posting by Google Account on my own blog!
    - Brian

    ReplyDelete

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