The Scotiabank Giller Prize revealed its longlist of 14 titles for the 2020 award.

UBC creative writing professor Ian Williams, who won the award in 2019 for his debut novel Reproduction, announced the longlist on September 8.

The titles were chosen from 118 books submitted by publishers across Canada. 

The list includes:

• Gil Adamson, for her novel, Ridgerunner, published by House of Anansi Press;
• David Bergen, for his short story collection, Here The Dark, published by Biblioasis
• Lynn Coady, for her novel, Watching You Without Me, published by House of Anansi Press;
• Eva Crocker, for her novel, All I Ask, published by House of Anansi Press;
• Emma Donoghue, for her novel, Pull of The Stars, published by HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.;
• Francesca Ekwuyasi, for her novel, Butter Honey Pig Bread, published by Arsenal Pulp Press;
• Michelle Good, for her novel, Five Little Indians, published by HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.;
• Kaie Kellough, for his short story collection, Dominoes At The Crossroads, published by Véhicule Press;
• Thomas King, for his novel, Indians On Vacation, published by Harper Collins Publishers Ltd.;
• Annabel Lyon, for her novel, Consent, published by Random House Canada, an imprint of Penguin Random House Canada;
• Shani Mootoo, for her novel, Polar Vortex, published by Book*hug Press;
• Emily St. John Mandel, for her novel, The Glass Hotel, published by HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.;
• Seth, for his graphic novel, Clyde Fans, published by Drawn & Quarterly;
• Souvankham Thammavongsa, for her short story collection, How To Pronounce Knife, published by McClelland & Stewart, an imprint of Penguin Random House Canada.

Among those with connections to B.C. are Lyon, who is a UBC creative writing professor in Vancouver, and Good, who is a member of the Red Pheasant Cree Nation in Saskatchewan and is based in B.C’s South Okanagan.

Those who were born in B.C. but now live elsewhere include Bergan, Kellough, and Mandel.

Cinemagoers may recognize Donoghue from the 2015 film adaptation of her 2010 novel Room.

The panel consists of Canadian authors Mark Sakamoto (who is the jury chair and whose memoir Forgiveness won Canada Reads 2018), Eden Robinson (whose novel Son of a Trickster has been adapted into the forthcoming TV series Trickster), and SFU professor David Chariandy; British-Canadian novelist Tom Rachman; and The Guardian literary critic Claire Armitstead.

The jury stated in a news release that they “were determined to find the most powerful pieces of fiction published” in “this tumultuous year”.

“Despite the difficulties posed by the pandemic, we experienced an embarrassment of riches. Exquisite prose has emerged from many parts of Canada and multiple walks of life; and we have filled our months with witty, intense, and achingly beautiful stories,” they stated. 

The shortlist will be announced on October 5.

Between the Pages: An Evening with the Scotiabank Giller Prize Finalists, hosted by Jael Richardson, will be presented online this autumn, with a date yet to be announced.

On November 9, the 2020 Scotiabank Giller Prize, founded in 1994 and presenting an award of $100,000 to one author with $10,000 going to each of the other finalists, will be presented on CBC.