Effing Awesome: Kathy Page Makes Giller Longlist for Paradise & Elsewhere

It is with real pleasure and tremendous excitement that we can announce to Thirsty readers that the fabulous Kathy Page has made the Giller longlist for her equally fabulous short story collection Paradise & Elsewhere.  

Jurors Francine Prose, Justin Cartwright and Shauna Singh Baldwin read through 161 books to select a longlist of 12 titles. "We’re celebrating writers brave enough to change public discourse, generous with their empathy, offering deeply immersive experiences," they announce in the official Giller Prize press release.  "Some delve into the sack of memory and retrieve the wisdom we need for our times, others turn the unfamiliar beloved. All are literary achievements we feel will touch and even transform you."  

That bit about retrieving the wisdom we need for our times, or turning the unfamiliar beloved, of achievements which both touch and transform … I don’t know a better description for Paradise & Elsewhere.  Congrats to Kathy: it’s richly deserved.

The longlist for the 21st Scotiabank Giller Prize is:

• Arjun Basu for his novel Waiting for the Man published by ECW Press
• David Bezmogis for his novel The Betrayers published by HarperCollins Canada
• Rivka Galchen for her short story collection American Innovations published by HarperCollins Canada
• Frances Itani for her book Tell published by HarperCollins Canada
• Jennifer LoveGrove for her novel Watch How We Walk published by ECW Press
• Sean Michaels for his novel, Us Conductors published by Random House Canada
• Shani Mootoo for her novel Moving Forward Sideways Like a Crab published by Doubleday Canada
• Heather O’Neill for her novel The Girl Who Was Saturday Night published by HarperCollins Canada
• Kathy Page for her short story collection Paradise and Elsewhere published by John Metcalf Books/Biblioasis
• Claire Holden Rothman for her book My October published by Penguin Canada
• Miriam Toews for her novel All My Puny Sorrows published by Knopf Canada
• Padma Viswanathan for her book The Ever After of Ashwin Rao published by Random House Canada

The Giller shortlist will be announced on Monday, October 6^th, with the winner announced Monday November 10^th.  The winner will receive $100,000, with each shortlisted book receiving 10,000 each.  For the full press release, please go here.