The Giller Prize has named its new jury with acclaimed author Dionne Irving as the chair.
The Mississauga, Ont., native's short story collection "The Islands" was a finalist for the 2023 Giller Prize, the PEN/Faulkner Award, the New American Voices Award and the Clara Johnson Award.
She will be joined on the jury for the $100,000 Giller Prize by Jodan Abel, Loghan Paylor, Deepa Rajagopalan and Aaron Tucker.
Edmonton's Abel won the 2024 Governor General's Literary Award for Fiction for his allegorical novel "Empty Spaces" and the 2017 Griffin Poetry Prize for "Injun."
British Columbia's Paylor is a queer, trans author whose debut novel, "The Cure for Drowning," was longlisted for the 2024 Giller Prize and named a Globe and Mail Best Book of 2024.
Guelph, Ont. writer Rajagopalan's short story collection "Peacocks of Instagram" was shortlisted for the 2024 Giller Prize, while British Columbia's Tucker is the author of seven books, including novels "Soldiers, Hunters, Not Cowboys" and "Y: Oppenheimer, Horseman of Los Alamos."
The long list will be announced in mid-September, with the short list to follow in early October.
Last year the Giller Prize was awarded to Anne Michaels amid ongoing protests by members of the literary community over the organization's corporate sponsorships, including Scotiabank, which invests in an Israeli arms manufacturer.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 15, 2025.
Alex Nino Gheciu, The Canadian Press
