November
4 , 2003
AUTHOR M.G. VASSANJI WINS THE 2003 GILLER PRIZE
Canada's Premier Prize for Fiction Names a Winner
TORONTO - At a gala dinner and award ceremony
that drew over 500 members of the publishing, media and
arts communities, M.G. Vassanji was named
the 2003 winner of The Giller Prize, Canada’s premier
literary prize for fiction, now celebrating its 10th year.
Vassanji’s winning novel, The In-Between World
of Vikram Lall, is published by Doubleday Canada.
The largest annual prize for fiction in the country, The
Giller Prize awards $25,000 each year to the author of the
best Canadian novel or short story collection published
in English. A shortlist of five finalists was announced
on October 2, 2003. Those finalists were:
- Margaret Atwood for her
novel Oryx and Crake, published by McClelland
& Stewart
- John Bemrose for his
novel The Island Walkers, published by
McClelland & Stewart
- John Gould for his short
story collection Kilter: 55 Fictions,
published by Turnstone Press
- Ann-Marie MacDonald for
her novel The Way the Crow Flies, published
by Knopf Canada
- M.G. Vassanji for his
novel The In-Between World of Vikram Lall,
published by Doubleday Canada
More
on the Finalists
Selected by a distinguished jury panel comprised of jurist
Rosalie Silberman Abella, scholar and academic David Staines
and author Rudy Wiebe, the finalists were chosen from 97
eligible books.
Of the winning book, the jury remarked: “M.G. Vassanji’s
The In-Between World of Vikram Lall is the powerful and
haunting story of an Indian family living in the turbulence
of an emergent Kenya. Through the eyes of the central character,
Vikram Lall, a middle-aged man now exiled to a small Ontario
town, we read an astonishing tapestry of irresistible vignettes,
brilliantly exploring the painful lessons of history -
national, culture and personal - amidst the fragility
of human relationships. Drawing simultaneously both Vikram’s
and his country’s revolution, the novel chronicles
his own evolution against a mesmerizing literary landscape
replete with luminous memories, fascinating characters and
inspiring prose.”
M.G.
Vassanji was born in Kenya and raised in Tanzania.
Before coming to Canada in 1978, he attended M.I.T., and
later was writer in residence at the University of Iowa.
Vassanji is the author of four acclaimed novels:
The Gunny Sack (1989), which won a regional Commonwealth
Prize; No New Land (1991); The
Book of Secrets (1994), which won the inaugural
Giller Prize as well as The Bressani Prize; and Amrika
(1999) He is also the author of a collection of short stories,
Uhuru (1992). M.G. Vassanji
lives in Toronto with his wife and two sons.
To commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Prize, a stunning
300-lb steel sculpture, created by B.C. artist Cory Fuhr,
was presented to Jack Rabinovitch by CBC Radio’s Shelagh
Rogers. The commissioning of the sculpture was made possible
by the Canadian Publishers’ Council and the Association
of Canadian Publishers through the generous donations of
their members.
The award ceremony was broadcast this year live on Bravo!
NewStyleArtsChannel, Book Television: The Channel, and CBC
Television
The Giller Prize was founded by Jack Rabinovitch in 1994
in honour of his late wife, literary journalist Doris Giller.
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