Lynn Coady Wins The 2013 Scotiabank Giller Prize
November 5, 2013
Credit: Photo credit: Tom Sandler.
Jack Rabinovitch, Lynn Coady, Brian Porter.
Lynn Coady has been named the 2013 winner of the Scotiabank Giller Prize for her short story collection Hellgoing, published by House of Anansi Press. The announcement was made at a black-tie dinner and award ceremony hosted by Jian Ghomeshi, attended by nearly 500 members of the publishing, media and arts communities. The gala aired on CBC Television at 9 p.m. (9.30 p.m. NT).
This year the prize celebrates its 20th anniversary.
A shortlist of five authors and their books was announced on October 8, 2013. Those finalists were:
- Dennis Bock for his novel Going Home Again, a Phyllis Bruce Book published by HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
- Lynn Coady for her short story collection Hellgoing, published by House of Anansi Press.
- Craig Davidson for his novel Cataract City, published by Doubleday Canada, a division of Random House of Canada Limited.
- Lisa Moore for her novel Caught, published by House of Anansi Press.
- Dan Vyleta for his novel The Crooked Maid, published by HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
The shortlist and ultimate winner were selected by the esteemed three-member jury empanelled for the 2013 prize: Canadian writers Margaret Atwood and Esi Edugyan; and American author Jonathan Lethem. Of the winning book, the jury wrote:
“The eight stories in Lynn Coady’s Hellgoing offer a stupendous range of attitudes, narrative strategies, and human situations, each complete and intricate, creating a world the reader enters as totally as that of a novel, or a dream. Yet the book as a whole is also magically united by Coady’s vivid and iconoclastic language, which brims with keen and sympathetic wit. Whether from the perspective of a writer flailing in the social atmosphere of a professional conference, or a woman trying to extend forgiveness to a lover’s abusive father, Coady offers a worldview full of mournful humour, ready indignation, and vertiginous possibility; the reader feels in the presence of life itself.”
Lynn Coady is the author of the bestselling novel The Antagonist, which was a finalist for the 2011 Scotiabank Giller Prize, as well as the novels Mean Boy, Saints of Big Harbour, and Strange Heaven and the short story collection Play the Monster Blind. She has been shortlisted for the Governor General’s Literary Award and the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour and has four times made The Globe and Mail’s annual list of Top 100 Books. Originally from Cape Breton, she now lives in Edmonton, Alberta, where she is a founding and senior editor of the award-winning magazine Eighteen Bridges.
Lynn Coady is the author of the bestselling novel The Antagonist, which was a finalist for the Scotiabank Giller Prize, as well as the novels Mean Boy, Saints of Big Harbour, and Strange Heaven and the short story collection Play the Monster Blind. She has been shortlisted for the Governor General’s Literary Award and the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour, and has four times made The Globe and Mail’s annual list of Top 100 Books. Originally from Cape Breton, she now lives in Edmonton, Alberta, where she is a founding and senior editor of the award-winning magazine Eighteen Bridges.
The Scotiabank Giller Prize was delighted to congratulate two-time Giller-winner and inaugural jury member Alice Munro, on being named the 2013 recipient of the Nobel Prize for Literature.
Listen to CBC Radio One’s Q at 10:06 a.m. tomorrow for Jian Ghomeshi’s interview with Lynn Coady and replay the gala on CBC Books www.cbc.ca/books
Ask Lynn Coady your questions about her win and her work on November 6 at 2 p.m. EST during a Twitter chat hosted by Scotiabank. Please visit www.scotiabank.com/gillerwinner and use the hashtag #gillerwinner.
About the Prize
The Scotiabank Giller Prize strives to highlight the very best in Canadian fiction year after year. The prize awards $50,000 annually to the author of the best Canadian novel or short story collection published in English, and $5,000 to each of the finalists. The award is named in honour of the late literary journalist Doris Giller and was founded in 1994 by her husband, Toronto businessman Jack Rabinovitch.
About Scotiabank
Scotiabank is committed to supporting the communities in which we live and work, both in Canada and abroad, through our global philanthropic program, Scotiabank Bright Future. Recognized as a leader internationally and among Canadian corporations for our charitable donations and philanthropic activities, Scotiabank has provided on average approximately $47 million annually to community causes around the world over each of the last five years.
About CBC/Radio-Canada
CBC/Radio-Canada is Canada’s national public broadcaster and one of its largest cultural institutions.The Corporation is a leader in reaching Canadians on new platforms and delivers a comprehensive range of radio, television, Internet, and satellite-based services. Deeply rooted in the regions, CBC/Radio-Canada is the only domestic broadcaster to offer diverse regional and cultural perspectives in English, French and eight Aboriginal languages, plus seven languages for international audiences. In 2013, CBC/Radio-Canada has been serving Canadians for 77 years, being at the center of the democratic, social and cultural life of Canada.
About CBC Books
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For more information, please contact:
Elana Rabinovitch
O: 416-934-0755
C: 416-275-5418