The Giller Prize - Previous News

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March 25, 1998

JURY PANEL ANNOUNCED FOR THE FIFTH ANNUAL GILLER PRIZE

Jack Rabinovitch, founder of The Giller Prize, is pleased to announce that in this fifth year of the prize, authors Margaret Atwood and Guy Vanderhaeghe and writer/broadcaster Peter Gzowski will comprise the 1998 jury. Margaret Atwood and Guy Vanderhaeghe replace authors Bonnie Burnard and Mavis Gallant who served, with Peter Gzowski, on last year's jury.

Margaret Atwood is the author of more than twenty-five books - novels, short stories, poetry, literary criticism, social history, and books for children. Her work has been published around the world and has won many awards including the Governor-General's Award, the Trillium Book Award, and the Sunday Times Award for Literary Excellence in the U.K., and the prestigious Le Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in France. She won the 1996 Giller Prize for her most recent novel, Alias Grace, which was also shortlisted for the 1996 Booker Prize, the 1996 Governor-General's Award for Fiction, the Orange Prize for Fiction, and just this month, for the International IMPAC Dublin literary award, the world's richest book prize. She lives in Toronto.

Peter Gzowski has worked primarily as a broadcaster since 1971 and is best known for his 15 years as the host of CBC Radio's former flagship program "Morningside." "Peter Gzowski's Forum" now airs every Friday on CBC Radio One, and on CBC Television, "Gzowski in Conversation" is scheduled to make its on-air debut on April 26. Peter Gzowski has also published twelve books, most recently The Morningside Years, and is the founder of the Peter Gzowski Invitational Golf Tournaments, which have raised $5 million for literacy. An Officer of the Order of Canada, the recipient of a Governor-General's Performing Arts Award, the winner of seven ACTRA Awards, and the recipient of the George Peabody Award for his Outstanding Contribution to Broadcasting, Peter Gzowski is serving his second year as a jury member. He lives in Toronto.

Guy Vanderhaeghe published his first collection of short stories, Man Descending, in 1982. That book won the Governor-General's Award for Fiction and, in Britain, the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize. Guy Vanderhaeghe is also the co-winner of the 1990 City of Toronto Book Award for his novel Homesick, and his play I Had A Job I Liked. Once. won the Canadian Authors Association Prize for the best drama published in 1993. His most recent publications are a play, Dancock's Dance, and a novel, The Englishman's Boy, which won the 1996 Governor-General's Award for Fiction, The Saskatchewan Book Award for Fiction, and The Saskatchewan Book of the Year Award. That novel was also shortlisted for The Giller Prize in 1996 and has recently been nominated for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. Guy Vanderhaeghe lives in Saskatoon.

Dates Confirmed
This year, the shortlist is scheduled to be announced at a press conference in Toronto in early October. The winner will be announced at a black-tie dinner and awards ceremony at Toronto's Four Seasons Hotel, to be held on Tuesday, November 3, 1998.

Prize History
The Giller Prize awards $25,000 annually to the author of the best Canadian novel or short story collection published in English. The award was established in 1994 by Toronto businessman Jack Rabinovitch in honour of his late wife, literary journalist Doris Giller.

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