Three Canadian Novels in the Running for the Commonwealth Book Prize

Joanne Skibsrud at the 2011 EWF
(Photo: Andy E. Williams)

"Johanna Skibsrud's Scotiabank Giller Prize-winning novel The Sentimentalists is one of three Canadian titles on the short list for this year's Commonwealth Book Prize. The others are The Town that Drowned by Riel Nason of Quispamsis, N.B., and Dancing Lessons from Jamaican-born, Toronto-based Olive Senior. Skibsrud, who grew up in Pictou County, N.S., won the Giller for The Sentimentalists in November 2010. At 30, she was the youngest recipient ever for the $50,000 honour."

— CBC
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Joanne Skibrud read from her award-winning novel The Sentimentalist at the 2011 Elora Writers' Festival. Join us this year ( Sunday, May 27) for another afternoon of readings by award-winning Canadian authors.

For more information go here...

Elora Writers' Festival 2009 reader Linden MacIntyre's latest...

"The follow-up to [Linden] MacIntyre's 2009 Scotiabank Giller Prize winner The Bishop's Man, the newly published book [Why Men Lie] follows 50-something professor Effie MacAskill Gillis as she reflects on past and current relationships with men, from her frightening father to her ex-husbands and her priest brother.
     MacIntyre, 68, admits he first tackled the story from a man's point of view in an effort to explore middle-aged male preoccupations with impotence of all kinds, but 'it just did not work.'
     'It didn't come together, and it was only after a long, long struggle that I realized men aren't credibly conscious of what makes them what they are. They don't have that much self-knowledge, self-insight into something as intrinsic as that, and I just wrote it off as a failed idea.'
     That was around the time when The Bishop's Man hit shelves and went on to win the Giller, which MacIntyre wasn't expecting and which brought 'a lot of great expectations.'
     As MacIntyre met with readers of The Bishop's Man, he fielded many questions about its two strong female characters, Effie and Stella, and that provided the spark he needed for his next book."
— Victoria Ahearn, The Canadian Press (via News1130)
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Get Linden MacIntyre's new book... and tickets to the 2012 Elora Writers' Festival here...

Check out this year's outstanding lineup of authors here...

"You gotta stop wearing your wishbone where your backbone oughta be"—Elizabeth Gilbert

From: Escape from Reality

"For writers, the new opportunities are often double-edged, with each new prize multiplying the chances of not winning. 'I understand that some writers may feel that if there’s a winner, there are obviously losers,' says Elana Rabinovitch, administrator of the Scotiabank Giller Prize. 'That’s hard because right now we have a culture of prizes. But it’s the only downside.' "— John Barber, The Globe and Mail

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The top book-prize jackpots open to Canadian writers, in order of value (all amounts in Canadian dollars):

1. Nobel Prize in Literature: $1,555,870

2. International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award: $139,000

3. Man Booker International Prize: $96,487

4. Man Booker Prize: $80,400

5. Warwick Prize for Writing: $80,400

6. Griffin Poetry Prize: $75,000

7. Cundill Prize in History at McGill: $73,345

8. Writers’ Trust Hilary Weston Prize for Non-Fiction: $60,000

9. Scotiabank Giller Prize: $50,000

10. Montreal International Poetry Prize: $50,000

11. British Columbia National Book Award: $40,000

12. The Donner Prize: $35,000

13. Governor General’s Literary Awards: $25,000

14. Rogers Writer’s Trust Award: $25,000

15. Marion Engel Award: $25,000

16. TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award: $25,000

17. Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Non-Fiction: $25,000

18. Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing: $25,000

19. Trillium Book Award: $25,000

20. Matt Cohen Prize: $20,000

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