
[Video] Giller Book Club: The Sideways Life of Denny Voss
On April 2, 2026, we hosted the Giller Book Club with Holly Kennedy and Ann Y.K. Choi. Holly is the author of THE SIDEWAYS LIFE OF DENNY VOSS, longlisted for the 2025 Giller Prize. ANN is the author of ALL THINGS UNDER THE MOON.
About THE SIDEWAYS LIFE OF DENNY VOSS, published by Lake Union Publishing:
On the surface, Denny Voss’s life in rural Minnesota is a quiet one. At thirty years old, he lives at home with his elderly mother and his beloved blind and deaf Saint Bernard, George. He cleans up roadkill to help pay the bills. Though his prospects are limited by a developmental delay—the result of an accident at birth—Denny has always felt that he has “a good life.”
So how did he wind up being charged with the murder of a mayoral candidate—after crashing a sled full of guns into a tree?
As Denny awaits trial, his court-appointed therapist walks him through the events of the past year. Denny’s had other scuffles with the law, the first for kidnapping a neighbor’s cantankerous goose. And then there was the time he accidentally assisted in a bank robbery. It seems like whenever Denny tries to do the right thing, chaos ensues.
Untangling the events around the murder reveals even more painful truths about his family’s past. He’s always been surrounded by people who love him, but now it’s up to Denny to set his life on a new course.
About ALL THINGS UNDER THE MOON, published by Simon & Schuster:
In 1924, Korea is an occupied country. In Seoul’s secret, underground networks and throughout the countryside, rebellion against the Japanese Empire simmers, threatening to boil over. Kim Na-Young lives a simple life in the rural village of Daegeori, where she watches the moon rise and set over the pine-wooded mountains, tends to her household alongside her best friend, Yeon-Soo, and cares for her sick mother.
But the occupation touches every Korean life—even Na-Young’s. In the wake of a tragedy that stuns the village, Na-Young’s father arranges her marriage to a man she’s never met, and Na-Young and Yeon-Soo decide to flee, taking their fate into their own hands. That decision sets them on their own collision course with the occupying forces, resulting in a violent encounter that will alter both of their lives forever—in shockingly different ways.
Taking us from a small village to the bustling corridors of Seoul, where women and girls can learn to read and write in multiple languages and members of the revolution pass coded messages through the back rooms of teahouses, Ann Y. K. Choi weaves a masterful tale of a woman taking command not only of her own identity but her own destiny.
Please visit gillerprize.ca/giller-book-club to learn about upcoming book clubs.
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Important Dates
- Submission Deadline 1:
February 13, 2026 - Submission Deadline 2:
April 17, 2026 - Submission Deadline 3:
June 19, 2026 - Submission Deadline 4:
August 14, 2026



