All You Need to Know About ... The Giller Prize

While leafing through The Toronto Star the other day... (well, actually I saw a photo of a book on the front page and went directly to the noted section), I was directed to a story about this year's ScotiaBank Giller Prize.  The short version is that this year the public is being granted an award: The Reader's Choice Award. Though some angry bloggers interviewed for The Star's story would tell you it's a bad idea, this year, CBC.ca and the Giller Prize committee (if that's what they call themselves), are accepting nominations from the reading public on which book they think is most worthy of "Canada's richest literary prize."

A word on the prize itself:

Now in its 18th year, "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 award was established in1994 by Toronto businessman Jack Rabinovitch in honour of his late wife, literary journalist Doris Giller."

I don't see a problem with giving the public a say on what they think is the "best." We're the ones buying and reading all of this literature anyway! The authors are writing for the readers, afterall, aren't they? And maybe... Just maybe... This will stir up some interest in Canadian literature. That's not a bad thing at all, is it?

Might I also point out that the novel Every Time We Say Goodbye once featured on this blog and written by Jamie Zeppa (an author local to my hometown) is on the list of books eligible to be nominated. Just sayin'...

I'm linking to the CBC.ca page where you can go to make nominations, read all about the Giller Prize, and learn how you can get involved as an enthusiastic Canadian reader. You only have until August 28th, so check it out!