This year is no exception with a gargantuan seventy authors nominated. Tragic has made the mistake in previous years of trying to do the award justice and comment meaningfully on all categories- foolish man. The result was that although expanding his knowledge of the fine Canadian Literary scene, (which he is growing to admire more and more) and improving his very dodgy French, he lost a chunk of his life never to be recovered.
Thankfully, he is finally learning to spell GOVERNOR correctly- a strong Irish and Republican streak having held him back over the years.
So, comments this year are restricted to the English speaking fiction category, with non-fiction and children's to follow a bit further down the track, possibly. Shame really, the fiction categories are a bit like the glamour centre position in ice-hockey, often gets all the glory whilst others on the ice might struggle to get column inches. The Tragic, whilst he knows the value of defence, goal tending and lightening wing play, can only do so much. Having tortured that analogy to death..
The Year of The Cockroach
Two weeks ago, Montreal author, Rawi Hage, learned he was a Scotiabank Giller Prize finalist for his novel Cockroach. Last week, the book was shortlisted for the Quebec Writers's Federation Literary Awards. It also made the cut for the prestigious Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize. Impressive.
Now, Cockroach is in the running for a Governor General's Literary Award, shortl
isted in the English fiction category. Not that the Big H, who also won this years truly pan-galactic, Dublin IMPAC International will have it all his own way. There are strong contenders across the category including a newcomer, Rivka Galchen, (right) mixing-it with the CanLit heavyweights.
Originally from Toronto but now living in New York, she is nominated for her first novel, Atmospheric Disturbances, described by the jury as "a brilliant debut" from a writer with "tremendous sympathy and psychological acuity" and "a wonderfully sly, magnificently skewed sense of humour." Ms. Galchen's work has also been shortlisted for the Rogers.
The book has been well reviewed in the New York Times. As well, she’s already won a Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers Award, and the book has its own trailer on YouTube.
The fiction shortlist, announced Tuesday morning in Toronto, also includes former Governor General's award winners David Adams Richard's, The Lost Highway, Nino Ricci's , The Origin of Species; and Fred Stenson's The Great Karoo. Fred hails from Cochrane, Alberta. The weeky Cochrane Times, may have to put on a Arts Reporter with former resident, Marina Endicott's, Good to a Fault, shortlisted for the Giller (but not the GG).
The Lost Highway, was previously shortlisted for the Thomas Head Raddall Atlantic Fiction Prize but lost out to Don Hannah's, the Ragged Islands (Knopf Canada) -which is not on GG's list. Award processes are never subjective of course.
Nino Ricci's , The Origin of Species, made it to the longlist stage of this years Giller, but no further. The GG judges have obviously spotted qualities missed by the Giller crew.
And the Not Fiction Categories (defence, wing, goal tenders)
In other categories of the GG awards, Toronto graphic novelist Mariko Tamaki was nominated for Children’s Literature, Ronnie Burkett and Judith Thompson received nods for Drama, and A.F. Moritz was recognized in Poetry for The Sentinel.
Among the shortlisted non-fiction writers: James Orbinski, the humanitarian and one-time president of Doctors Without Borders, former National Post columnist Christie Blatchford and Chris Turner, of Calgary, for his environmental tome The Geography of Hope.
The juries, which vary for each category, read through over 900 English titles and 563 French ones. Tragic has often wondered whether they get paid by the 'read' word, similar to authors fee per word structure, get a flat fee, do it for the prestige or just for love of literature.
Full epic list available at Canlitawards.com
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment