On September 8th at 10:00 a.m. the official Giller Prize Longlist will be announced. I’m obviously quite anxious for this announcement because of my participation in the Shadow Giller this year.
I’ve been reading through a number of the books (although no where near my fellow Shadow Giller member Lindy!) that are listed on the Crazy for Canlit page and have also been on a book buying spree along with borrowing many of the books listed from the library. There is no way I’ll be able to read all of them before Tuesday’s announcement, but I’ve tried to gather the books that I feel have a strong chance to be on the official Longlist?
I’ve read only a couple really and just a few ended up feeling like strong contenders so my own personal Longlist Predictions here are going to be a bit of a crap shoot, a serious guessing game, and probably no where close to what will actually be on there. It’s going to be a mix of what I think will be on the Longlist with what I hope and what I can guess at based on looking through previous lists.
I’m going to leave one spot open for a graphic novel. This year it was announced that graphic novels will be eligible. I see only one that is on the Crazy for Canlit site, (the other is a memoir – are those not eligible?) but I’ve seen other graphic novels published that could be eligible as well. I cannot begin to guess at which may end of up on the list, so I’m just going to leave a spot open for one. Will there be more than one? It will be interesting to see!
- Left open for a graphic novel
- Five Little Indians by Michelle Good
- How to Pronounce Knife by Souvankham Thammavongsa
- Polar Vortex by Shani Mootoo
- Aubrey McGee by Alex Pugsley
- The Certainties by Aislinn Hunter
- Vanishing Monuments by John Elizabeth Stintz
- Dominoes at the Crossroads by Kaie Kellough
- Coming Up for Air by Sarah Leipciger
- Petra by Shaena Lambert
- Noopiming by Leanne Betasamosake Simpson
- Crosshairs by Catherine Hernandez? We Two Alone by Jack Wang? or Songs for the End of the World by Saleema Nawaz?
This list could easily be 20 books long! Because, what about Consent by Annabel Lyon? The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel? And Blaze Island by Catherine Bush? Or Misconduct of the Heart by Cordelia Strube? I haven’t read any of these yet but they seem like strong contenders, along with a whole slew of other ones too? This is so hard!
I am on pins and needles wondering what the Longlist will actually look like! What do you think of my list? Disagree with some, or all of it? Are there any you’ve read that you think might be on the list?
I’m looking forward to seeing what my other Shadow Giller jurors are coming up with! Will our lists compare or be completely different?
