It is with great joy that we announce that Zoe Whittall’s THE BEST KIND OF PEOPLE (House of Anansi) and Gary Barwin’s YIDDISH FOR PIRATES (Random House Canada) have been longlisted for this year’s prestigious Scotiabank Giller Prize – two of 12 longlisted titles! Each year The Scotiabank Giller Prize strives to acknowledge the best in Canadian fiction. An esteemed five-member panel selected this longlist from 161 submitted novels, they say “The quality and depth of Canadian fiction made it challenging to select the 2016 Scotiabank Giller Prize longlist.”
THE BEST KIND OF PEOPLE by Zoe Whittall – George Woodbury, an affable teacher and beloved husband and father, is arrested for sexual impropriety at a prestigious prep school. With George locked up, how do the members of his family pick up the pieces and keep living their lives? How do they defend someone they love while wrestling with the possibility of his guilt?
With exquisite emotional precision, award-winning author Zoe Whittall explores issues of loyalty, truth and the meaning of happiness through the lend of all-American family on the brink of collapse.
YIDDISH FOR PIRATES by Gary Barwin is a brilliant novel filled with Jewish takes on classic pirate tales – fights, prison escapes, and exploits on the high seas – but it’s also a tender love story. Rich with puns, colourful language, post-colonial satire and Kabbalistic hijinks, YIDDISH FOR PIRATES is also a compelling examination of mortality, memory, identity and persecution, from one of this country’s most talented writers.
The winner will be announced on November 7th, 2016. For venue and ticket information, please visit: Scotiabankgillerprize.ca
For more information on The Scotiabank Giller Prize please visit: Scotiabankgillerprize.ca/longlist
Congratulations to Zoe Whittall and Gary Barwin, as well as the other longlisted authors!