AUDIBLE.CA AND SCOTIABANK GIVE THE GIFT OF A LITERARY ESCAPE TO CANADIANS LISTENING #ALONETOGETHER

TORONTO, April 30, 2020 /CNW/ - Scotiabank and Audible.ca, the leading spoken-word entertainment and audiobook producer and provider, announced today that audio editions of 10 of Canada's acclaimed Scotiabank Giller Prize-winning books will be made available to Canadian listeners for free.

Margaret Atwood's internationally renowned Alias Grace and Mordecai Richler's iconic Barney's Version are among the Scotiabank Giller-crowned works available for Canadian customers to download and keep in their collections forever. Rohinton Mistry's A Fine Balance, Alice Munro's Runaway, Joseph Boyden's Through Black Spruce, Johanna Skibsrud's The Sentimentalists, Will Ferguson's 419, Lynn Coady's Hellgoing, Sean Michaels' Us Conductors and André Alexis' Fifteen Dogs are also available to download.

The collection of Scotiabank Giller Prize-winning audiobooks will be available on Audible.ca starting today, through to June 28, encouraging Canadians to immerse themselves in award-winning Canadian storytelling.

"I'm thrilled that Alias Grace is part of such a thoughtful initiative," said Margaret Atwood, Scotiabank Giller Prize-winning author of Alias Grace. "Audible.ca, Scotiabank, and the Giller Prize have brought together a diverse mix of stories – entertaining, compelling, adventurous. It's a great diversion during this challenging time. Listen and enjoy."

"With increased time at home, we know that many Canadians are looking for ways to be informed, inspired and entertained. That was our motivation to provide this access to Scotiabank Giller Prize-winning content," adds Georgia Knox, Canada Country Manager for Audible. "On Audible.ca we want to celebrate the creativity of the Canadian authors who spark joy and intrigue amongst all of us with their writing. We're excited to be working with Scotiabank to make some of these masterpieces available for all Canadians to enjoy."

Elana Rabinovitch, Executive Director of the Scotiabank Giller Prize says, "I am so grateful to Audible.ca and Scotiabank for making this unprecedented opportunity available to Canadians. During this difficult time, it's more important than ever to fire our imaginations with truly compelling books by some of Canada's finest storytellers."

The Scotiabank Giller Prize books available for free download until June 28 on Audible.ca are:

• A Fine Balance, Rohinton Mistry (1995)
• Alias Grace, Margaret Atwood (1996)
• Barney's Version, Mordecai Richler (1997)
• Runaway, Alice Munro (2004)
• Through Black Spruce, Joseph Boyden (2008)
• The Sentimentalists, Johanna Skibsrud (2010)
• 419, Will Ferguson (2012)
• Hellgoing, Lynn Coady (2013)
• Us Conductors, Sean Michaels (2014)
• Fifteen Dogs, André Alexis (2015)

The Scotiabank Giller Prize initiative is the latest in a series of free offerings from Audible.ca in recent weeks, following the launch of Audible Stories, a service that allows anyone, anywhere to stream hundreds of free, full-length audiobooks and other titles, many for children and families. Other offerings include the free nationwide distribution of James Taylor's acclaimed words-and-music audio memoir Break Shot; a collaboration with Pottermore Publishing, supporting the Harry Potter At Home effort by making the audiobook of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone free on Audible Stories and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone free to stream on Alexa home devices; and Audible Sleep, a free collection of new sleep, relaxation and meditation content.

To download and listen to select Scotiabank Giller Prize winning books or to find out more, visit audible.ca/listenwithgiller .

About Audible, Inc.
Audible, Inc., an Amazon.com, Inc. subsidiary (NASDAQ:AMZN), is the leading provider of premium digital spoken audio content, offering customers a new way to enhance and enrich their lives every day. Audible content includes more than 475,000 audio programs from leading audiobook publishers, broadcasters, entertainers, magazine and newspaper publishers, and business information providers.

About the Prize
The Giller Prize, founded by Jack Rabinovitch in 1994, highlights the very best in Canadian fiction year after year. In 2005, the prize teamed up with Scotiabank who increased the winnings four-fold. The Scotiabank Giller Prize now awards $100,000 annually to the author of the best Canadian novel or short story collection published in English, and $10,000 to each of the finalists. The award is named in honour of the late literary journalist Doris Giller by her husband Toronto businessman Jack Rabinovitch, who passed away in August 2017.

About Scotiabank        
Scotiabank is a leading bank in the Americas. Guided by our purpose: "for every future," we help our customers, their families and their communities achieve success through a broad range of advice, products and services, including personal and commercial banking, wealth management and private banking, corporate and investment banking, and capital markets. With a team of approximately 100,000 employees and assets of approximately $1.2 trillion (as at January 31, 2020), Scotiabank trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: BNS) and New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: BNS). For more information, please visit http://www.scotiabank.com and follow us on Twitter @ScotiabankViews.

SOURCE Scotiabank