2021 WINNER

Omar El Akkad
What Strange Paradise

2021 Broadcast

On November 8, 2021, Omar El Akkad was named the winner of the 2021 Scotiabank Giller Prize for his novel, What Strange Paradise, published by McClelland & Stewart, taking home $100,000 courtesy of Scotiabank.

2021 Shortlist

The 2021 Scotiabank Giller Prize jury announced its shortlist on Tuesday, October 5, 2021. The five titles were chosen from a longlist of 12 books announced on September 8, 2021.

2021 Longlist

The 2021 Scotiabank Giller Prize jury announced its longlist on Wednesday, September 8, 2020.

AstraCedar Bowers headshot
Omar El Akkad headshot
Cheluchi Onyemelukwe-Onuobia headshot
A Dream of A Woman
Rachel Rose headshot
Linda Rui Feng headshot
The ListenersJordan Tannahill headshot
Em ThĂșy headshot
Miriam Toews headshot
The StrangersKatherena Vermette headshot
We, Jane

Of the 2021 longlist, the jury writes:

In a year of logistical challenges and the continued relevance of Zoom, the jury of the 2021 Scotiabank Giller Prize has emerged from many hours of private reading and many rounds of lively debate with a longlist of twelve titles. This extraordinary dozen showcases an ecstatic diversity of voices and styles, of narrative deployment and moral urgency, of formal innovation and old-fashioned storytelling pleasure. There is something for everyone on this list, but within each of these books there is to be found beauty, honest reckoning, human compassion, and the irrefutable mark of the sublime. It was the jury’s great honor to delight in the manifold achievements of these books, and with their announcement we leave this debate settled for another year: Canada’s literature is as vibrant and expansive as ever.

2021 Jury

The Scotiabank Giller Prize is pleased to announce the award-winning, five-member jury panel for the 2021 Prize.

Tash Aw

Tash Aw

Megan Gail Coles headshot

Megan Gail Coles

Joshua Ferris headshot

Joshua Ferris

Zalika Reid-Benta headshot

Zalika Reid-Benta

Joshua Whitehead headshot

Joshua Whitehead

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