TORONTO, Nov. 9, 2020 /CNW/ - Souvankham
Thammavongsa is the winner of the 2020 Scotiabank Giller Prize
for her short story collection, How To Pronounce
Knife, published by McClelland & Stewart.
Thammavongsa will receive $100,000
courtesy of Scotiabank.
The remaining finalists, listed below, will each receive
$10,000.
- Gil Adamson, for her
novel Ridgerunner, published by House of Anansi Press
- David Bergen, for his
short story collection Here The Dark, published by
Biblioasis
- Shani Mootoo, for her
novel Polar Vortex, published by Book*hug Press
- Emily St. John Mandel,
for her novel The Glass Hotel, published by HarperCollins
Publishers Ltd.
The winner was announced tonight at the Scotiabank Giller Prize
award ceremony, hosted by Canadian actor Eric McCormack, with performances by Canadian
singer and songwriter, Diana
Krall. The ceremony was presented commercial-free by
Scotia Wealth Management on CBC, CBC Radio One and streamed live on
CBCBooks.ca.
The jury, comprised of Canadian authors Mark Sakamoto (jury chair), Eden Robinson and David Chariandy, Canadian British novelist
Tom Rachman and literary
critic for The Guardian, Claire
Armitstead chose How to Pronounce Knife from 118
submitted works.
Of the winning book, the jury wrote: How to
Pronounce Knife is a stunning collection of stories that
portray the immigrant experience in achingly beautiful prose. The
emotional expanse chronicled in this collection is truly
remarkable. These stories are vessels of hope, of hurt, of
rejection, of loss and of finding one's footing in a new and
strange land. Thammavongsa's fiction cuts to the core of the
immigrant reality like a knife – however you pronounce it.
Souvankham Thammavongsa is the author of four poetry
books: Light, winner of the Trillium Book Award for
Poetry; Found; Small Arguments, winner of
the ReLit Award; and, most recently, Cluster. Her
fiction has appeared in Harper's, Granta, The Atlantic,
The Paris Review, Ploughshares, Best American
Non-Required Reading, The Journey Prize Stories, and The
O. Henry Prize Stories. How to Pronounce Knife is her debut
book of fiction, and the title story was shortlisted for the
Commonwealth Short Story Prize. Born in the Lao refugee camp in
Nong Khai, Thailand, she was raised and educated in
Toronto, where she is at work on
her first novel.
Listen to CBC Radio's q tomorrow at 10 a.m. EST for an
interview with Souvankham Thammavongsa and relive the
broadcast at CBCBooks.ca.
@GillerPrize will also be hosting a live Twitter chat with
Thammavongsa on Thursday, November
12 at 2 p.m. EST, using the
hashtag #GillerWinner.
Images of the winner, finalists and their books are available on
the Media Resources page at www.scotiabankgillerprize.ca
Quotes
"Warmest congratulations to Souvankham,
tonight's top winner for her exquisite collection, How to
Pronounce Knife. In this most unusual moment in history, the
jury - in what they described as the most intimate book club ever -
chose this work for its excellence and this author as 2020's fully
realized rising literary star."
- Elana Rabinovitch, Executive
Director, Scotiabank Giller Prize
"Congratulations to Souvankham Thammavongsa, the 2020 winner of
the Scotiabank Giller Prize. Scotiabank has proudly stood as the
title sponsor of the Scotiabank Giller Prize since 2005 and looks
forward to continuing to highlight Canada's extraordinary literary talent through
this partnership. For Souvankham, we hope this recognition presents
new opportunities and we welcome her to the Scotiabank Giller
Prize family. In a year like no other, Canadian authors remain at
the top of their craft."
-John Doig – Executive Vice
President, Retail Distribution, Scotiabank
Partnerships and Sponsors
Thammavongsa will be honoured at the 2021 virtual San Miguel
Writer's Conference & Literary Festival, in January.
About the Prize
The Giller Prize, founded by
Jack Rabinovitch in 1994, highlights
the very best in Canadian fiction year after year. In 2005, the
Prize teamed up with Scotiabank who increased the winnings
four-fold. The Scotiabank Giller Prize now awards $100,000 annually to the author of the best
Canadian novel, short story collection, or graphic novel published
in English, and $10,000 to each of
the finalists. The award is named in honour of the late literary
journalist Doris Giller by her
husband Toronto businessman Jack
Rabinovitch, who passed away in August 2017.
About Scotiabank
Scotiabank is a leading bank in the Americas. Guided by our
purpose: "for every future", we help our customers, their
families and their communities achieve success through a broad
range of advice, products and services, including personal and
commercial banking, wealth management and private banking,
corporate and investment banking, and capital markets. With a team
of over 90,000 employees and assets of approximately
$1.2 trillion (as at July
31, 2020), Scotiabank trades on the Toronto Stock
Exchange (TSX: BNS) and New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: BNS).
For more information, please visit and follow us on Twitter
@ScotiabankViews.
About CBC/Radio-Canada
CBC/Radio-Canada is Canada's
national public broadcaster. Through our mandate to inform,
enlighten and entertain, we play a central role in strengthening
Canadian culture. As Canada's
trusted news source, we offer a uniquely Canadian perspective on
news, current affairs and world affairs. Our distinctively
homegrown entertainment programming draws audiences from across the
country. Deeply rooted in communities, CBC/Radio-Canada offers
diverse content in English, French and eight Indigenous languages.
We also deliver content in Spanish, Arabic and Chinese, as well as
both official languages, through Radio Canada International (RCI).
We are leading the transformation to meet the needs of Canadians in
a digital world.
About Audible Inc.
Audible, a leading producer and
provider of original spoken-word entertainment and audiobooks, is
committed to supporting talented Canadian authors and creators and
is proud to be the exclusive audiobook sponsor of the Scotiabank
Giller Prize. At Audible.ca, an Amazon.com, Inc. subsidiary
(NASDAQ: AMZN), we believe storytelling and the spoken word have
the power to help people rediscover the joy in listening, making us
more informed, more connected, and more human. Audible content
includes hundreds of thousands of audiobooks, podcasts, guided
wellness programs, theatrical performances, A-list comedy, and
exclusive Audible Originals you won't find anywhere else.
SOURCE Scotiabank