TORONTO, Oct. 1, 2012 /CNW/ - Today in a morning press conference at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in downtown Toronto, more than 100 media and members of the publishing industry gathered to hear the 2012 Scotiabank Giller Prize jury announce its shortlist.

The five finalists were chosen by the award-winning, three-member jury empanelled for the 2012 prize: Irish author and screenwriter Roddy Doyle; Canadian publisher, writer and essayist Anna Porter; and American author and satirist Gary Shteyngart.

This is the 19^th year of the prize.

The shortlist was selected from a longlist of 13 books. One hundred and forty two titles were submitted by 51 publishing houses from across the country.

Anna Porter and Gary Shteyngart were present to announce the 2012 Scotiabank Giller Prize shortlist. The finalists are:

• Will Ferguson for his novel 419, published by Viking Canada
• Alix Ohlin for her novel Inside, published by House of Anansi Press
• Nancy Richler for her novel The Imposter Bride, published by HarperCollins Publishers
• Kim Thúy for her novel Ru, translated by Sheila Fischman, published by Random House Canada
• Russell Wangersky for his short story collection Whirl Away, published by Thomas Allen Publishers

Jian Ghomeshi, host of CBC Radio One and TV's arts and culture program Q, hosted this morning's press conference.  Jack Rabinovitch, founder of the Giller Prize, spoke at the event as did Jacqueline Ryan, Vice-President Sponsorship & Partnership Programs at Scotiabank, and Kirstine Stewart, Executive Vice-President CBC English Services.

The gala and winner announcement will take place on Tuesday, October 30.

For the first time in its 19-year history, the Scotiabank Giller Prize Gala will be held at a brand new venue, the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in downtown Toronto. Also a first, the Gala evening will commence at 5 p.m. so that taping for a national CBC Television broadcast can begin at 8 p.m. sharp (live to the East Coast).

The Scotiabank Giller Prize Gala will air on CBC Television at 9:00 p.m/9.30 NT. For the second
year in a row, Jian Ghomeshi will host the Gala evening.

Today, CBC Books launched a "Guess the Giller" contest tied to the shortlisted books, and will feature book excerpts, interviews and Q&A's leading up the livestreamed Gala with accompanying live chat.

International Festival of Authors (IFOA), Harbourfront Centre
For the ninth year in a row, the Scotiabank Giller Prize finalists will read from their nominated books at IFOA's Closing Night on Saturday, October 27^th at 8:00 p.m. For more information, please visit:
http://www.readings.org/?q=ifoa/scotiabank_giller_prize_finalists

The Scotiabank Giller Light
The Scotiabank Giller Light Bash is now in its 11^th year and expanding again. There will be Giller Light Bash events taking place in Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, Winnipeg and beginning this year, Halifax too. The Scotiabank Giller Light has raised over $265,000 for Frontier College, Canada's original literacy organization. For more information and tickets, please go to www.gillerlightbash.ca.

About Scotiabank
Scotiabank is committed to supporting the communities in which we live and work, both in Canada and abroad, through our global philanthropic program, 'Bright Future'.  Recognized as a leader internationally and among Canadian corporations for our charitable donations and philanthropic activities, Scotiabank has provided on average approximately $45 million annually to community causes around the world over each of the last five years. Visit at www.scotiabank.com.

About CBC/Radio-Canada
CBC/Radio-Canada is Canada's national public broadcaster and one of its largest cultural institutions. The Corporation is a leader in reaching Canadians on new platforms and delivers a comprehensive range of radio, television, Internet, and satellite-based services. Deeply rooted in the regions, CBC/Radio-Canada is the only domestic broadcaster to offer diverse regional and cultural perspectives in English, French and eight Aboriginal languages, plus seven languages for international audiences. In 2012, CBC/Radio-Canada has been serving Canadians for 76 years, being at the centre of the democratic, social and cultural life of Canada.

About CBC Books
CBC Books features all of CBC's rich literary content across all platforms - audio, video and digital. This one-stop destination for book lovers includes in-depth information on books, exclusive interviews with authors, the latest news stories from the publishing world, book reviews, best-seller lists, discussions and blogs. It's an online meeting place where literary enthusiasts can find the books they want to read, connect with other Canadians who love to read as much as they do, and keep up on all of CBC's major literary events and programs such as Canada Reads, the Massey Lectures and Canada Writes.

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/gillerprize
www.twitter.com/gillerprize

2012 SCOTIABANK GILLER PRIZE FINALISTS

Will Ferguson
419
Viking Canada

Jury Citation
"Will Ferguson's 419 points in the direction of something entirely new: the Global Novel. It is a novel emotionally and physically at home in the poverty of Lagos and in the day-to-day of North America. It tells us the ways in which we are now bound together and reminds us of the things that will always keep us apart. It brings us the news of the world far beyond the sad, hungry faces we see on CNN and CBC and far beyond the spreadsheets of our pension plans. Ferguson is a true travel writer, his eye attuned to the last horrible detail. He is also a master at dialogue and suspense. It is tempting to put 419 in some easy genre category, but that would only serve to deny its accomplishment and its genius."

Biography
Will Ferguson is the award-winning author of Happiness™, Spanish Fly and Beyond Belfast. He lives in Calgary with his wife and their two sons.

Alix Ohlin
INSIDE
House of Anansi Press

Jury Citation
"A woman mistakes a man for a log - and so starts Alix Ohlin's engrossing novel, Inside.  The novel jumps between decades, locations and characters with a precision that makes Ohlin's hard work seem effortless.  The novel is full of surprises and things to admire, but the writing is genuinely clever because it always serves the characters. Inside is a novel about people.  It is beautifully crafted and beautifully told."

Biography
Alix Ohlin is the author of two novels, Inside and The Missing Person, and two story collections, Babylon and Other Stories and Signs and Wonders. Her work has appeared in Best American Short Stories, Best New American Voices, and on NPR's "Selected Shorts." Born and raised in Montreal, she is currently on leave from Lafayette College and will spend the year in Los Angeles.

Nancy Richler
THE IMPOSTER BRIDE
HarperCollins Publishers

Jury Citation
"The mystery of Lily Azerov, the "imposter bride" of Nancy Richler's rich, complex, compassionate novel, shifts through Lily's past and her daughter, Ruth's, present, interwoven with the perceptions of her whole extended family, as they adjust to the comforts of life in Montreal. All have been touched by the grotesque violence of the Holocaust, all find ways to prevail, tell stories and laugh - all except for Lily, whose burden of guilt is too great to acknowledge. A wonderfully nuanced work of fiction by a master of the craft."

Biography
NANCY RICHLER's short fiction has been published in various American and Canadian literary journals, including Room of One's Own, The New Quarterly, Prairie Fire, Another Chicago Magazine and The Journey Prize Anthology. Her first novel, Throwaway Angels, was published in 1996 and was shortlisted for the 1997 Arthur Ellis Award for Best First Crime Novel. Her second novel, Your Mouth Is Lovely, won the 2003 Canadian Jewish Book Award for fiction and Italy's 2004 Adei-Wizo Prize. It has been translated into seven languages. Born in Montreal, Nancy Richler lived for many years in Vancouver but has recently returned to Montreal.

Kim Thúy
RU (translated by Sheila Fischman)
Random House Canada

Jury Citation
"The purpose of my birth was to replace lives that had been lost. My life's duty was to prolong that of my mother." With those words Ru takes off on a difficult journey, from Vietnam to Quebec, from one language to another, rendered in exquisite, unsentimental prose.  Kim Thúy is a born storyteller, but she rewrites the traditional immigrant narrative in a completely new way, makes it whole and wondrous once more."

Biography
KIM THÚY has worked as a seamstress, interpreter, lawyer and restaurant owner. She currently lives in Montreal where she devotes herself to writing.

Russell Wangersky
WHIRL AWAY
Thomas Allen Publishers

Jury Citation
"Whirl Away is a marvelous collection of stories.  Each story stands starkly and wonderfully alone.  Some of them carry a very quick thump; others have the scope, the extra pages that allow a glimpse at longer lives.  Regrets, mistakes, accidents - the stories are full of them and their consequences.  They are full of people trying to cope, trying to change, trying to live.  They are stories of lives close to breaking, written with great confidence and skill."

Biography
Russell Wangersky's most recent book, The Glass Harmonica, won the 2010 BMO Winterset Award and was longlisted for the Relit Awards. His previous book, Burning Down the House: Fighting Fires and Losing Myself won Canada's largest non-fiction prize, the British Columbia National Award for Canadian Non-Fiction, the Rogers Communications Newfoundland and Labrador Non-Fiction Book Award and the Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-Fiction. It was also a finalist for the Writer's Trust Non- Fiction Prize and was a Globe and Mail Top 100 selection in 2008. His 2006 short story collection The Hour of Bad Decisions was long-listed for the Scotiabank Giller Prize, and was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writer's Prize, first book, Canada and the Caribbean. It was a Globe and Mail Top100 selection in 2006. Wangersky lives and works in St. John's, where he is an editor and columnist with the St. John's Telegram.

SOURCE: Scotiabank - Sponsorships & Donations