The 2009 Scotiabank Giller Prize announces its shortlist

TORONTO , Oct. 6 /CNW/ - Today, in a morning press conference that drew over 100 media and members of the publishing industry, the Scotiabank Giller Prize announced its 2009 shortlist. The five finalists were selected by an esteemed jury panel made up of celebrated American novelist and short story writer Russell Banks , acclaimed UK author and journalist Victoria Glendinning, and distinguished professor and award-winning author Alistair MacLeod. The shortlist was chosen from 96 books submitted for consideration by 39 publishing houses from every region of the country.

The 2009 Scotiabank Giller Prize finalists are:

    
    -   Kim Echlin for her novel THE DISAPPEARED, published by Hamish
        Hamilton Canada
    -   Annabel Lyon for her novel THE GOLDEN MEAN, published by Random House
        Canada
    -   Linden MacIntyre for his novel THE BISHOP'S MAN, published by Random
        House Canada
    -   Colin McAdam for his novel FALL, published by Hamish Hamilton Canada
    -   Anne Michaels for her novel THE WINTER VAULT, published by McClelland
        & Stewart
    

Seamus O'Regan, co-anchor of CTV's Canada AM hosted the press conference. Jack Rabinovitch, founder of the Giller Prize, spoke at the event as did Rick White , Vice-President, Brand and Marketing Programs, Scotiabank. Two of the three-member jury panel of the Scotiabank Giller Prize, Russell Banks and Victoria Glendinning, announced the finalists and read their citations.

    
    CTV Broadcast
    -------------
    

CTV is proud to confirm the continued relationship as the official broadcaster partner of The Scotiabank Giller Prize gala for a fifth consecutive year. Canada AM's Seamus O'Regan will reprise his role as host for this year's broadcast. The Scotiabank Giller Prize will air live on Bravo! and BookTelevision, with the CTV network premiere the following day, Wednesday, November 11, 2009 . Subsequent encore broadcasts on CTV, /A\, Bravo!, BookTelevision and Star!, along with complete broadcast details to be announced soon. For the fourth year in a row, the broadcast will be available live on The CTV Video Player. The Gala will also be available on demand at CTV.ca. CTV will once again support the broadcast with a dedicated website, giller.CTV.ca.

    
    Scotiabank Partnership
    ----------------------
    

In September 2005 , Jack Rabinovitch announced that Scotiabank would become the first ever co-sponsor of Canada's richest literary award for fiction. Under the agreement, the prize became known as the Scotiabank Giller Prize. Last year, through Scotiabank's involvement, the prize purse was increased to $70,000 , awarding $50,000 to the author of the best Canadian novel or short story collection published in English and $5,000 to each of the four finalists. This year's Scotiabank Giller Prize will be announced on November 10th at Toronto's Four Seasons Hotel at a gala black tie dinner and award ceremony.

    
    Guess the Giller
    ----------------
    

Between October 6 and November 10 , our annual "Guess the Giller" contest gets underway, giving participants the chance to win a VIP trip for two to Toronto to attend the 2010 Scotiabank Giller Prize Gala. This Grand Prize package includes airfare to and from Toronto , invitations to the Scotiabank Giller Prize Gala to see the 2010 Prize Winner, accommodations at the Four Seasons Hotel, $1,000 in spending money and an autographed set of the 2009 shortlisted books. "Guess The Giller" was launched in 2003 together with the Toronto Public Library. This year, nearly 30 public library systems, 150 bookstores, 33 post secondary schools and 1,010 Scotiabank branches from across Canada are promoting the contest to Canadian readers. For more information visit www.scotiabankgillerprize.ca.

    
    Harbourfront International Festival of Authors
    ----------------------------------------------
    

For the sixth year in a row, the Scotiabank Giller Prize finalists will have the honour of reading at the IFOA's Closing Night on Saturday, October 31 . For more information, please visit http://www.harbourfrontcentre.com/ifoa/index.cfm

    
    The Scotiabank Giller Light
    ---------------------------
    

For the seventh year in a row, Frontier College will host the Scotiabank Giller Light Bash - the alternative Giller party of the year - on the same evening as the Scotiabank Giller Prize. This year's event will be returning to last year's venue, the historic Berkeley Church. To date the Scotiabank Giller Light has raised over $125,000 for Frontier College, Canada's original literacy organization. For information and tickets, go to http://www.frontiercollegefoundation.ca/site/giller

Scotiabank is committed to supporting the communities in which we live and work, both in Canada and abroad. Recognized as a leader internationally and among Canadian corporations for its charitable donations and philanthropic activities, in 2008 the Bank provided around $43 million in sponsorships and donations to a variety of projects and initiatives, primarily in the areas of healthcare, education, social services and arts and culture. Please visit us at www.scotiabank.com.

CTV, Canada's Olympic Network, is also Canada's largest private broadcaster. Featuring a wide range of quality news, sports, information, and entertainment programming, CTV is Canada's most-watched television network. CTV Inc. also owns radio stations across the country and owns or has interests in leading national specialty channels, featuring news, sports, factual, arts, entertainment, music, youth and fashion programming. CTV Inc. is owned by CTVglobemedia Inc., Canada's premier multi-media company, which also owns Canada's national newspaper, The Globe and Mail. CTV is the official broadcaster of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games and London 2012 Games of the Olympiad. More information about CTV may be found on the company website at www.ctv.ca.

The Scotiabank Giller Prize awards $50,000 annually to the author of the best Canadian novel or short story collection published in English and $5,000 to each of the finalists. The Scotiabank Giller Prize is named in honour of the late literary journalist Doris Giller and was founded in 1994 by her husband Toronto businessman Jack Rabinovitch.

    
                             Please visit us at:
                         www.scotiabankgillerprize.ca
                               www.facebook.com
                         www.twitter.com/gillerprize
    

For further information: Elana Rabinovitch, [phone]