25th Trillium Award

And the Scotiabank Giller Prize Goes to...

 
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419 by Will Ferguson

Last night, it was announced that Will Ferguson's 419 (Viking Canada/Penguin Canada) is this year's recipient of the Scotiabank Giller Prize. The announcement was made at an award ceremony hosted by Jian Ghomeshi. The event was live-streamed on CBC Books and aired on CBC television at 9 p.m. (9.30 p.m. NT).

The Scotiabank Giller Prize is the largest annual literary prize, awarding $50,000 to the winner and $5,000 to the finalists.

The Jury praised 419 because the novel "points in the direction of something entirely new: the Global Novel." Specifically, the novel is "emotionally and physically at home in the poverty of Lagos and in the day-to-day of North America. It tells us the ways in which we are now bound together and reminds us of the things that will always keep us apart. It brings us the news of the world far beyond the sad, hungry faces we see on CNN and CBC and far beyond the spreadsheets of our pension plans." Drawing from the fact that Ferguson writes travel literature, the Jury concluded that "Ferguson is a true travel writer, his eye attuned to the last horrible detail. He is also a master at dialogue and suspense. It is tempting to put 419 in some easy genre category, but that would only serve to deny its accomplishment and its genius."

Will Ferguson is the author of award-winning memoirs, such as Beyond Belfast and Hitching Rides with Buddha. His novels include Happiness™, Spanish Fly and 419. Nominated for both an IMPAC Dublin Award and a Commonwealth Writers Prize, and a three-time winner of the Leacock Medal, Ferguson’s work has been published in more than 20 languages around the world.

Congratulations to Will Ferguson.

For more information, visit the Scotiabank Giller Prize Website.

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