DAY EIGHT: Five deserving writers walk into a reading...

The Writers' Trust of Canada has got itself a heck of a fiction contest this year. Last night, the five finalists read from their nominated works, and each one stole the show in their own way. Rivka Galchen was very endearing with her short reading, and funny, and allowed the brilliance of her first novel's concept to emerge organically. Rawi Hage was quite expectedly quiet, and intense, dark, and superb. Lee Henderson, whom I have seen read many, many times in Vancouver, wowed with his inventive, pithy language ("the burial mound was zitted with purple potatoes," and "the dog snouted for treats"). Patrick Lane floored me with a pitch-perfect account of a boy trying to commit suicide in a river, an account that could have ended with any of his fifteen finishing sentences and been brilliant. And Miriam Toews gave a virtuoso reading from the Troutmans, speeding through the jokes that by the time the audience laughed, we were gulping our chuckles back in the face of perfect pathos.

I'd love it if Lee won. But I seriously don't have a clue as to who's gonna take it.

The perfect lead-up: GG shortlists announced

For those of you who thought the Giller shortlist was "too young" or "too who?", the Canada Council has thrown you an intriguing bone today. The finalists for the Governor General's Literary Awards in Fiction, Non-fiction, and Poetry were announced, and the fiction list is surely a much more diverse (in terms of age, career trajectory and experience) group. Congratulations to Rivka Galchen, Rawi Hage, Nino Ricci, David Adams Richards and Fred Stenson, all of whom will be appearing at IFOA on Monday, October 27th for a special shortlist reading. Catch these and plenty more award-winning and nominated authors at events throughout the festival.

How about Hage, huh? Finalist in all three major fiction prizes? And Galchen in two?

I was speaking with a trusted authority on Canadian fiction last night (at the launch for Giles Blunt's highly praised new book, No Such Creature), and he assured me that after reading Nino Ricci's The Origin of Species he became convinced Ricci is a bona fide, real-life, all-jokes-aside literary genius. As devoted readers of this blog might already have guessed, Ricci's No. 1 in my GG pool.

PS. if there are any devoted readers out there, please let me know by commenting! If nothing else, it will make me feel a bit better about myself...

PPS: IFOA starts tomorrow!

Giller Shortlist: In With The New

In a clear triumph for a fresh new breed of Canadian fiction writing, the 2008 Scotiabank Giller Prize shortlist was announced this morning. The five finalists - Joseph Boyden, Marina Endicott, Rawi Hage, Mary Swan and Anthony De Sa - are all relative newcomers to the CanLit scene, and a number of massive names have been left off the list, including David Adams Richards, Nino Ricci and David Bergen. The five nominees will appear together at IFOA on the last night of the festival, November 1st. The jury was comprised of Margaret Atwood, Liberal MP Bob Rae and IFOA's guest-curator Colm Toibin (it's pronounced "toe-bean," you philistines).

I'm no Giller historian, but I'm going to stick my neck out and say this is the first time the entire shortlist has been made up of first or second books. I find this extremely exciting (being a debut writer myself). I also find it incredible, almost too incredible. (Almost. I said almost. I said nothing about Atwood's proven track-record of backing the young/undiscovered. I will continue to say nothing about this. I find such conjecture cheap and nasty.)

Personally, I'm disappointed for Nino Ricci, who is a member of the Toronto Writers' Centre (TWC), where I also toil. I'll never forget my first day at the TWC... I stole Nino's long-held seat in the quiet room. For those of you who don't know, stealing someone's seat at the TWC is the equivalent of stealing a man's fourth wife. It's like robbing a man of his last vestige of hope. And although I'm sure it must have riled Nino to no end, he was remarkably cool about it.

I'm also a bit bummed for Steven Galloway, who was my MFA thesis supervisor at UBC Creative Writing in 2004. I remember sitting with him at the infamous Helen's Grill on Main Street in Vancouver for a thesis meeting. He made me swear on my mother's grave I wouldn't tell anyone about his fantastic new book idea. Sadly, Steven's got too many books under his belt for this year's prize; the Cellist is his (egads!) third.

One last note: my money (like the money of most, I'm sure) is on Boyden or Hage. Both of their first books did massively well and received worldwide acclaim, but were shut out of the GG's and the Giller. If anyone holds an IOU from a humbled CanLit community, it's these two.

IFOA kicks off in two weeks!

Finally! The first short-list of the season.

What better way to kick off the 2008 IFOA blog than by announcing the first award short-list of the Canadian book season. Let the debate and glass-throwing begin.

Early this morning (OK, it was 10am, but it felt way earlier to this guy), over tea and coffee at Ben McNally Books in downtown Toronto, the Writers' Trust of Canada revealed three high-profile short-lists: The Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize, The Writers' Trust Non-Fiction Prize and The Writers' Trust of Canada/McClelland & Stewart Journey Prize. The lists of lucky finalists can be found here, here and here, respectively. Winners will be announced on November 17 at a (gala) event at the Isabel Bader Theatre. 

And by the way... there was only one Stephen-Harper-gala-related joke told during the entire announcement, and it was a pretty good one by Jan Wong. 

What does this mean for IFOA, you ask? Well, for the first time, the finalists for the Rogers Fiction Prize will be reading together at the festival on October 29. Get your tickets early, because this promises to be an electrifying evening. Rawi Hage v. Patrick Lane? Rivka Galchen v. Miriam Toews? With Lee Henderson tagging in? Are you kidding?

Woops. Sorry. I've been reading The Man Game. It's pretty engrossing. (Go Lee!)

ADW

PS. Only three weeks until IFOA begins!