Giller Prize longlist 2008

The jury selected 15 titles out of 95 books, submitted by 38 publishers from every region of Canada. The longlist for the Scotiabank Giller Prize includes three former winners of the Canadian prize for literary fiction. The list will be winnowed down to a shortlist of five on October 7. The winner will be announced on November 11.

Award-winning author and previous Giller Prize winner Margaret Atwood; Liberal MP, Foreign Affairs critic and author Bob Rae; and renowned international journalist, professor and author Colm Toibin comprised the 2008 jury.

This year marks the 15th anniversary of the prize.
From a highly competitive field, the Scotiabank Giller jury has selected the following titles for this year’s longlist:




David Adams Richards for The Lost Highway






David Bergen for The Retreat






Joseph Boyden for Through Black Spruce






Austin Clarke for More






Anthony De Sa for Barnacle Love, short stories






Emma Donaghue for The Sealed Letter






Marina Endicott for Good to a Fault






Steven Galloway for The Cellist of Sarajevo






Rawi Hage for Cockroach






Kenneth J. Harvey for Blackstrap Hawco






Patrick Lane for Red Dog, Red Dog






Pasha Malla for The Withdrawal Method, short stories






Paul Quarrington for The Ravine






Nino Ricci for The Origin of Species






Mary Swan for The Boys in the Trees





Of the longlist, the jury writes:

“These fifteen books vary widely in technique, in setting, and in tone — from the historical to the contemporary, from the comic to the satiric to the tragic, from the local to the international. Nothing unites them but the jury's belief in their accomplishment: each contributes something fresh, original, thoughtful, or vital to the practice of fiction.”
The Scotiabank Giller 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 Scotiabank Giller Prize is named in honour of the late literary journalist Doris Giller and was founded in 1994 by her husband Toronto businessman Jack Rabinovitch.
October 7, 2008 Shortlist Announcement
November 11, 2008 Gala Evening and Winner Announcement
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I have read The Boys in the Trees***** by Mary Swan. I have started The Cellist of Sarajevo and have Cockroach by Rawi Hage, Through Black Spruce by Joseph Boyden, and The Lost Highway by David Adam Richards in my TBR pile.

If you have reviewed any of these books let us know by commenting or sending me a link to your review.
So, which have you read? Which do you plan to read? Have any interesting information about any of them or their authors?