Nigerian writer Cheluchi Onyemelukwe-Onuobia has been longlisted for the 2021 Scotiabank Giller Prize for her debut novel, The Son of the House. The longlist was announced by Elana Rabinovitch, Executive Director of the Scotiabank Giller Prize via the Scotiabank Giller Prize’s YouTube and Facebook page.
Now in its 28th anniversary, “the Giller Prize, founded by Jack Rabinovitch in 1994, highlights the very best in Canadian fiction year after year. In 2005, the prize teamed up with Scotiabank who increased the winnings 4-fold. The Scotiabank Giller Prize now awards $100,000 annually to the author of the best Canadian novel, graphic novel or short story collection published in English, and $10,000 to each of the finalists. The award is named in honour of the late literary journalist Doris Giller by her husband Toronto businessman Jack Rabinovitch, who passed away in August 2017.”
Twelve titles were chosen from a field of 132 books submitted by publishers from across Canada. The judges were given access to a complimentary Audible.ca account, providing an opportunity to listen to the submissions that were available on Audible’s service.
This year’s panel which was chaired by Zalika Reid-Benta, included the following authers: the Canadian authors Megan Gail Coles, Joshua Whitehead, Malaysian novelist, Tash Aw and American author, Joshua Ferris.
The panel has this to say about the longlist:
“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.”
The Scotiabank Giller Prize shortlist will be announced on Tuesday, October 5, at 11 a.m. ET at a press conference at The Park Hyatt hotel in Toronto.
Visit here to see other longlisted writers and their books.
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