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The Giller Prize is one of the most prestigious literary awards in Canada, and it has the largest cash prize: $100,000 for the winner and $10,000 for shortlisted authors. It recognizes outstanding fiction by a Canadian author published in the previous year. The 2024 winner has been announced, and it’s Anne Michaels for her historical fiction novel Held, which follows a World War One soldier from the battlefield to its aftermath decades later.
Anne Michaels is a poet and novelist who was shortlisted for the Giller Prize twice before, for Fugitive Pieces in 1996 and The Winter Vault in 2009. She is best known for Fugitive Pieces, which was made into a movie starring Rosamund Pike in 2007.
This year’s prize comes after protests against their lead sponsor, Scotiabank, for its investment in an Israeli defense contractor. More than 20 authors withdrew their work from consideration, and 300 pledged to not submit their work until Scotiabank divested. Signatories included the 2023 Giller Prize winner Sarah Bernstein and the 2021 winner Omar El Akkad. The Giller Prize removed Scotiabank from the title of the prize, but it remains their top sponsor.
You can read more at CBC.
Find more news and stories of interest from the book world in Breaking in Books.