ST. JOHN鈥橲, N.L. 鈥� Victoria authors Steven Price and Michael Christie were nominated Tuesday alongside previous Scotiabank Giller Prize winners Margaret Atwood and Andr茅 Alexis as longlist finalists for the $100,000 91原创 writing award.
Victoria-born Price was nominated for his recently published Lampedusa, while Thunder Bay native Christie earned a nod for Greenwood. Both writers have earned Giller longlist nominations in previous years.
Price鈥檚 wife, Esi Edugyan of Colwood, who won her second Giller Prize last year, announced the dozen authors in line to succeed her at an event in St. John鈥檚, N.L., on Tuesday.
Atwood is competing with The Testaments, which will be published by McClelland & Stewart on Sept. 10. The much-hyped sequel to The Handmaid鈥檚 Tale has also been shortlisted for the international Man Booker Prize.
Atwood will be in Victoria for two events later this month, including a reception Sept. 28 from 1 to 4 p.m. for Atwood Illustrated, an exhibit of illustrations that accompany her graphic novels running at Winchester Galleries in Oak Bay Sept. 26 to Oct. 8.
Atwood will also speak about The Testaments during a sold-out engagement at UVic鈥檚 Farquhar Auditorium on Sept. 27.
Another familiar name on the Giller long list is Alexis, a Trinidad native who grew up in Ottawa, for Days by Moonlight, published by Coach House Books. Alexis was the 2015 winner for Fifteen Dogs; Atwood won the prize in 1996 for Alias Grace.
Also receiving nods this year are several previous Giller finalists: Michael Crummey for The Innocents (Doubleday Canada); Latvian-born, Toronto-raised author and filmmaker David Bezmozgis for the short story collection Immigrant City (HarperCollins Publishers); and Montreal-raised Alix Ohlin for Dual Citizens (House of Anansi Press).
Other noted writers receiving Giller recognition Tuesday include U.K.-born, Toronto-based Adam Foulds for Dream Sequence and Hamilton, Ont.-born K.D. Miller鈥檚 short story collection Late Breaking, both published by Biblioasis.
Among the newcomers making the long list for their debut novels are 91原创-based poet Ian Williams for Reproduction (Random House Canada), and St. John鈥檚, N.L.-based Megan Gail Coles for Small Game Hunting at the Local Coward Gun Club (House of Anansi Press).
Toronto鈥檚 Zalika Reid-Benta is also in the running for her first short-story collection, Frying Plantain, published by Astoria, an imprint of House of Anansi Press.
Giller organizers say the long list was culled from 117 submissions by a jury panel featuring 91原创 writers Donna Bailey Nurse, Randy Boyagoda and Jose Teodoro, joined by Scottish-Sierra Leonean author Aminatta Forna and Bosnian-American author Aleksandar Hemon.
The short list will be revealed on Sept. 30, with the winner to be named at a Toronto gala on Nov. 18.
Atwood is joined on the Booker short list by British novelist Salman Rushdie, who won in 1981 for Midnight鈥檚 Children and is nominated this year for Quichotte.
American author Lucy Ellmann is also finalist with her thousand-page tome Ducks, Newburyport, from Windsor, Ont.-based independent publisher Biblioasis.
Rounding out the short list, announced Tuesday in London, are Nigerian writer Chigozie Obioma鈥檚 An Orchestra of Minorities, British author Bernardine Evaristo鈥檚 Girl, Woman, Other and British-Turkish author Elif Shafak for 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World.
Founded in 1969, the $81,000 prize is open to English-language authors from around the world.
The winner will be announced on Oct. 14.
鈥� with files from Mike Devlin, Times 91原创
