2018 Giller Prize Longlist – We’re Back for More!

Hello friends,

The 2018 Scotiabank Giller Prize Longlist was announced on September 17th. So it’s time for the Shadow Jury to spend the next couple of months reading, reviewing and discussing Giller books!

In case you’ve not followed along before, let me quickly explain how the Shadow Jury works.

There are four of us on the jury this year: Toronto-based Alison Gzowski, who is an editor at The Globe and Mail; Kim Forrester, who blogs at Reading Matters and lives in London, UK; Marcie McCauley, also in Toronto, who blogs at Buried in Print; and myself, Naomi MacKinnon, who blogs at Consumed by Ink and lives in Nova Scotia.

Our late chairman Kevin began chairing a “shadow jury” in 1995 when he was publisher of the Calgary Herald  — you can find the story of its history here. When he died two years ago, we decided to honour his memory by continuing to run the Shadow Giller jury and now, with the blessing of Kevin’s widow, Sheila, we continue to use Kevin’s blog to promote and champion the Canadian literature he loved so much every Giller Prize season.

Over the next couple of months we will post excerpts of reviews by Kim, Marcie and myself (with links back to our own blogs). Alison may also contribute a few guest posts as well as being actively involved in the comments.

In the long-established tradition of the Shadow Giller Jury, we will announce our winner a few days in advance of the official Giller Prize announcement on November 19th.

In the meantime, here’s the longlist:

• Zolitude by Paige Cooper
• French Exit by Patrick deWitt
• Songs for the Cold of Heart by Eric Dupont, translated by Peter McCambridge
• Washington Black by Esi Edugyan
• Beirut Hellfire Society by Rawi Hage
• Motherhood by Sheila Heti
• Our Homesick Songs by Emma Hooper
• An Ocean of Minutes by Thea Lim
• Something for Everyone by Lisa Moore
• Split Tooth by Tanya Tagaq
• Vi by Kim Thúy, translated Sheila Fischman
• Jonny Appleseed by Joshua Whitehead

Please do add comments and chime in with your own thoughts on the titles as we review them. Taking part in the Shadow Giller is made all the better when booklovers from across the world jump in and take part. We’ll be delighted and honoured to have you along…

Tags: 2018 Giller Prize Longlist