3 novels, 2 short story collections shortlisted for $100K Scotiabank Giller Prize

Three novels and two short story collections have made the shortlist for the 2020 Scotiabank Giller Prize.

The $100,000 prize is the biggest prize in Canadian literature.

Past winner David Bergen is nominated for his short story collection Here the Dark.He won the Giller Prize in 2005 forhis novelThe Time in Between, and was shortlisted in 2010 for the novelThe Matter with Morris.

• 6 lessons David Bergen has learned from 25 years writing fiction

The other short story collection on the list isHow to Pronounce Knifeby Toronto writer Souvankham Thammavongsa.How to Pronounce KnifeisThammavongsa's first work of fiction, she has also published four poetry collections.

Thammavongsa is one of three jurors for the2021 CBC Short Story Prize, which is open for submissions until Oct. 31.

• Souvankham Thammavongsa's stories explore the diversity of the immigrant experience

The nominated novels areRidgerunnerbyGil Adamson,Polar VortexbyShani Mootoo andThe Glass HotelbyEmily St. John Mandel.

Mootoo was previously shortlisted for the Giller Prize in 1997for her debut novelCereus Blooms at Night,

• Shani Mootoo on chocolate, house chores and cryptic notes

The shortlist was selected from 118 books that were submitted for consideration. A longlist of 14 books was revealed in early September.

2020 was the first year graphic novels were eligible for the prize. One graphic novel, Clyde Fans by Seth, made the longlist.

The longlist, shortlist and winner are selected by a five-person jury.Mark Sakamoto, author of theCanada Reads-winning memoirForgiveness, is the jury chair. The panel also includes Canadian novelistsEden Robinson,David ChariandyandTom Rachmanand British critic Claire Armitstead.

The winner will be announced in a virtual awards ceremony on Monday, Nov. 9. The ceremony will be hosted by actor Eric McCormack and will feature musical guest Diana Krall.

McCormack is a Canadian actor best known for his portrayal of Will Truman in Will & Grace. He has also starred in the TV showsLonesome Dove, Trust Me and Perception and on Broadway in the shows The Music Man and The Best Man.

The ceremony will be broadcast on CBC, CBC Gemand CBC Radioat9 p.m. local time (11:30 AT/12 midnight NT) and will be streamed online atCBC Books, YouTubeandFacebook at9 p.m. ET.

Between the Pages, a virtualevent celebrating the 2020 finalists, will take place on Monday, Nov. 2 at 7:30 p.m. It will be hosted by q's book columnist Jael Richardson.

Last year's winner wasReproductionby Ian Williams.

• Read an excerpt fromReproductionby Ian Williams

Other past Giller Prize winners includeEsi EdugyanforWashington Black,Michael RedhillforBellevue Square,Margaret AtwoodforAlias Grace,Mordecai RichlerforBarney's Version,Alice MunroforRunaway,Andr AlexisforFifteen DogsandMadeleine ThienforDo Not Say We Have Nothing.

Get to know the shortlisted books and writers below.

RidgerunnerbyGil Adamson

Ridgerunneris a novel aboutWilliam Moreland, the notorious thief known as Ridgerunner, as he moves through the Rocky Mountains, determined tosecure financial stability for his son. His son, JackBoulton, is trapped in a life not of his own making. Semi-orphaned and under the care of a nun, Sister Beatrice, Jack has found himself in a secluded cabin inAlberta. Little does he know, his father is coming for him.

• Read an excerpt from Ridgerunner

Adamson is a writer and poet. Her first novel,The Outlander,won the Amazon.ca First Novel Award andwas aCanada Readsfinalist in 2009, when it was championed by Nicholas Campbell. She has published several volumes of poetry, includingPrimitiveandAshland.

• Why it took Gil Adamson 10 years to write a swashbuckling follow-up to her bestselling novel The Outlander

Giller Prize jury citation:"The long-awaited sequel to Gil Adamson's hit The Outlander moves the action forward a decade, returning the 13-year-old son of the original protagonists to a forested land into which prisoners of the first world war are now hewing roads. The proximity of this new type of outlaw presents an existential threat to young Jack, who takes refuge in his parents' abandoned shack with a price on his head after escaping the toxic hypocrisies of 'civilisation'. Drawing richly on both the Western and on gothic fiction, Adamson evokes a mythic landscape to frame the question: how is it possible to live a good life, when obedience to man-made laws is so at odds with love, loyalty and respect for the natural world?"

The Next Chapter18:02Shani Mootoo on Polar Vortex

Shani Mootoo on her new novel Polar Vortex, about the secrets, lies and half-truths at the heart of a love triangle.

Here the DarkbyDavid Bergen

InHere the Dark,David Bergendelivers short stories that interweave across space, exploring faith, loss and complex moral ambiguities.From Danang, Vietnam, to Honduras and the Canadian Prairies, the book collects narratives about place and heart.Here the Darkincludes the story that won the 1999 CBC Short Story Prize,How CannMen Share a Bottle of Vodka?

• Read an excerpt from Here the Dark

Bergenis a Canadian novelist and short story writer. In 2005, his novelThe Time in Betweenwon the Scotiabank Giller Prize. His other books includeThe Matter with Morris,andStrangerin 2016.His novelThe Age of Hopewas defended by Ron MacLeanonCanada Readsin 2013.

• David Bergen on Mennonite food and literary tattoos

Giller Prize jury citation:"A dying woman asks an aging rancher to become her last lover. A fishing boat sputters to a halt off the coast of Honduras, compelling its owner to decide the fate of his repellent client. A young woman in a puritanical religious community glimpses the coloured world outside, and must choose whether to close her eyes, or to run. Sexual loneliness and moral confusion pull at the delicately wrought characters in David Bergen's latest work, a story collection of masterly skill and tension. His third appearance on the Giller shortlist including the 2005 winner, The Time in Between affirms Bergen among Canada's most powerful writers. His pages light up; all around falls into darkness."

The Next Chapter16:03Emily St John Mandel on The Glass Hotel

Emily St John Mandel on The Glass Hotel, her follow-up to her breakout novel Station Eleven.

Polar VortexbyShani Mootoo

Abandoning the city for the picturesque countryside,Priya and Alexandra attempt to give themselves a new lease onlife in the novelPolar Vortex. That is, until Priya reveals that she is running from a fraught relationship with a friend who kept pursuing her:Prakash. After Priya feels safe enough to once again establish an online presence, Prakashcommunicates with her. Inexplicably, Priya asks Prakash to visit them.

• Read an excerpt from Polar Vortex

Mootoois a writer and visual artist who has been longlisted for the Man Booker Prize. Her debut novel was 1997'sCereus Blooms at Night.

• Shani Mootoo's novel Polar Vortex explores love, relationships and real connections in an age of social media

Giller Prize jury citation:"A keen meditation on the complexities of identity and desire, Polar Vortex is the unsettling examination of a failing marriage. In a small, southern Ontario town, Priya impulsively invites an old suitor, Prakesh, to spend the night and his arrival triggers the fault lines in her relationship with Alexandra. Conflicting wants and untold truths drag the past into the present. Memories cascade and clash as Mootoo masterfully dismantles the stories the narrators tell themselves in language as unsparing as winter."

The Glass HotelbyEmily St. John Mandel

Emily St. John Mandel's new book,The Glass Hotel,interweaves several complex narratives. Vincent is a bartender in a prestigious hotel on Vancouver Island. When the owner Jonathan Alkaitis passes Vincent his card, it becomes the beginning of their story together. Meanwhile, a hooded figure scrawls a cryptic note on a wall in the hotel, and a shipping executivefor a company called Neptune-Avramidis Leon Prevant sees the note and is shaken. Thirteenyears later, Vincent disappears from aNeptune-Avramidisship.

• Read an excerpt from The Glass Hotel

Mandel is a New York-based Canadian writer. Her fourth novel,Station Eleven, was a finalist for a National Book Award and the PEN/Faulkner Awardand won the 2015 Toronto Book Award.

• Emily St. John Mandel's latest novel, The Glass Hotel, is a timely look at a world derailed by financial fraud

Giller Prize jury citation:"A boldly lyrical tale echoing the deceit and ruin of the 2008 financial crisis, The Glass Hotel brings together two restless siblings and a multi-billion-dollar investor as they each negotiate ambition, secrets, and loss within the kingdom of money.Bridging the natural beauty of the Pacific Northwest, the shops and towers of Manhattan, and the netherworld of open waters, the novel commands a broad array of characters and a plot of kaleidoscopic intricacy. Here, in her eagerly anticipated follow-up to Station Eleven, Emily St. John Mandel turns her gifted attention to the mirages of now, and to the truth that we are haunted, always, by the lives of others."

How to Pronounce KnifebySouvankham Thammavongsa

How to Pronounce Knifeis a collection of idiosyncratic and diverse stories, from a young man painting nails in a salon, to a housewife learning English from soap-operas. Capturing the daily lives of immigrants,Souvankham Thammavongsacaptures their hopes, disappointments, trauma and acts of defiance.

• Read an excerpt from How to Pronounce Knife

Thammavongsais a writer and poet.Her stories have won an O. Henry Award and appeared inHarper's,Granta,The Paris ReviewandNOON.She has published four books of poetry, including 2019'sCluster.CBC Books named Thammavongsa a writer to watch in 2020.She is a juror for the 2021 CBC Short Story Prize.

• Souvankham Thammavongsa's stories explore the diversity of the immigrant experience

Giller Prize jury citation:"How to Pronounce Knife is a stunning collection of stories that portray the immigrant experience in achingly beautiful prose. The emotional expanse chronicled in this collection is truly remarkable. These stories are vessels of hope, of hurt, of rejection, of loss and of finding one's footing in a new and strange land. Thammavongsa's fiction cuts to the core of the immigrant reality like a knife however you pronounce it."