Scotiabank Giller Prize Names 12 Title Longlist: Familiar Faces, Debuts & More

The Scotiabank Giller Prize, the $100,000 fiction prize that honours the finest in Canadian prose each year and dominates the literary landscape in Canada, has announced its 2018 12-title longlist.

The list includes plenty of familiar names - indeed, nearly half the list is made up of writers previously nominated for the Giller Prize, including 2011 winner Esi Edugyan and previous nominees Patrick deWitt, Rawi Hage, Lisa Moore, and Kim Thuy. 

Newer names from the list include acclaimed Inuit throat singer Tanya Tagaq, whose literary debut blends memoir and fiction; Paige Cooper, whose debut Zolitude is a collection of short fiction; French language writer and McGill professor Eric Dupont, whose novel was translated by Peter McCambridge; UK-based Emma Hooper, whose previous debut novel sold in 24 countries; as well as Thea Lim and Joshua Whitehead, whose novels (both debuts) have already attracted significant acclaim in the short time since they were published. 

Four independent publishers received a total of five nominations: Biblioasis, Arsenal Pulp Press, House of Anansi Press (with two nominations), and Quebec's Baraka Books, which specializes in English language works. Six nominations went to the Penguin Random House group's various imprints, with HarperCollins receiving the remaining nomination. 

The 2018 Scotiabank Giller Prize longlist:

• Paige Cooper for her story collection Zolitude (Biblioasis)
• Patrick DeWitt for his novel French Exit (House of Anansi Press)
• Eric Dupont for his novel Songs for the Cold of Heart, translated by Peter McCambridge (Baraka Books)
• Esi Edugyan for her novel Washington Black (Patrick Crean Editions)
• Rawi Hage for his novel Beirut Hellfire Society (Knopf Canada)
• Sheila Heti for her novel Motherhood (Knopf Canada)
• Emma Hooper for her novel Our Homesick Songs (Hamish Hamilton)
• Thea Lim for her novel An Ocean of Minutes (Viking Press)
• Lisa Moore for her story collection Something for Everyone (House of Anansi Press)
• Tanya Tagaq for her novel Split Tooth (Viking Press)
• Kim Thúy for her novel Vi, translated by Sheila Fischman (Random House Canada)
• Joshua Whitehead for his novel Jonny Appleseed (Arsenal Pulp Press)

The five member 2018 jury consists of Canadian writer Heather O’Neill, American writer John Freeman, Canadian writer and professor Kamal Al-Solyalee (jury chair), VP Advancement for TIFF Maxine Bailey, and British writer and professor Philip Hensher.

The 2018 Scotiabank Giller Prize shortlist will be announced on October 1, and the winner will be announced on November 19.