James Bay Cree celebrated and recognized as author receives Gillar prize for latest book
Joseph Boyden wins $50,000 Giller Prize
Vit Wagner, Publishing Reporter - Nov 12, 2008
Through Black Spruce, the follow-up to Joseph Boyden's acclaimed novel Three Day Road, is this year's winner of this year's $50,000 Scotiabank Giller Prize.
The announcement was made at a televised gala last night at Toronto's Four Seasons Hotel.
"I'm worried that my friends up in Moosonee and Moose Factory weren't watching, but I hope they were because I want to tell them, `This is for you guys, too,'" said Boyden, moments after receiving the award.
"This is for my love of James Bay, my love of the First Nations, my love of the wilderness of Canada and contemporary and urban Canada, too," continued Boyden, 42, a member of the Woodlands Metis raised in Willowdale.
Boyden's novel was chosen ahead of four other finalists: Rawi Hage's Cockroach, Mary Swan's The Boys in the Trees, Marina Endicott's Good to a Fault and Anthony De Sa's Barnacle Love. Each of the runners-up received a cheque for $5,000.
Boyden lives and teaches in New Orleans with his wife, the novelist Amanda Boyden. But he still spends significant portions of each year in Canada, visiting friends and family on the shores of Hudson Bay, where Through Black Spruce is largely set.
The novel, the second book in a projected trilogy, alternates between two perspectives. One involves a trapper, Will, the son of one of the characters in his previous novel, Three Day Road, who is hospitalized with a coma. Sitting for long stretches at his bedside is the novel's other narrator, Will's niece Annie, who describes her search for her missing sister, a successful fashion model.
Winning the Giller "means that I'm allowed to continue writing," Boyden said. "I will always write about the First Nations of Canada. I will always celebrate and be behind the First Nations of Canada. And I will always push the message that we need to heal. We've begun healing. And it's incredibly important."
Asked how he planned to mark the win, Boyden said: "In the short run, I'll celebrate with my family. In the long run, I've been talking about starting up a fellowship for young students in Moose Factory in order to try to help them get into university."
Boyden's 2005 novel, Three Day Road, won the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize and the Amazon.ca/Books in Canada First Novel Award, as well as being shortlisted for the Governor General's Award for Fiction.
In all, jurors Margaret Atwood, Colm Toibin and Bob Rae considered 95 books by 38 publishers across the country.
The Giller, founded by benefactor Jack Rabinovitch in honour of his late wife Doris Giller, a Toronto Star book editor, was first awarded in 1994. Past winners include Atwood, Mordecai Richler and Alice Munro.
Last year, the award went to Elizabeth Hay for Late Nights on Air. Sales of her book jumped 628 per cent in the first week after the announcement of the prize. Vincent Lam's Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures, the 2006 winner, experienced a 464 per cent bump in sales.
As a footnote, it was the first time in four years that the "Guess the Giller" poll of public libraries, bookstores, Scotiabank branches, literary festivals and post-secondary institutions – won this year by Swan's novel – failed to correctly predict the eventual winner.
Boyden's win also broke another recent trend: For the past two years it was the second-bestselling book among the Giller nominees that emerged as the winner. If that had held, Cockroach would have won. Prior to last night, Through Black Spruce already ranked as the bestselling book of the five.
The award ceremony will be rebroadcast on CTV today at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. and Saturday at 5 p.m.
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http://www.nationalpost.com/todays_paper/story.html?id=952325
Joseph Boyden wins Scotiabank Giller Prize for 'Through Black Spruce'
TORONTO — A jubilant Joseph Boyden nabbed the $50,000 Scotiabank Giller Prize on Tuesday night for his second novel "Through Black Spruce," saying he wants his win to inspire native youngsters to pursue their artistic dreams.
"I hope that it gives any aboriginal kid the idea that if he wants to write, or she wants to act or he wants to sing, or she wants to rap, you've got to do it," said the Toronto-raised Boyden, who makes his home in New Orleans.
"It's time to express yourselves."
"Through Black Spruce" is a portrait of contemporary aboriginal life and family struggles that ensue after a beautiful young woman goes missing.
Boyden, who has Irish, Scottish and Metis roots, burst onto the literary scene in 2005 with his debut novel, "Three Day Road," which told the story of Cree snipers who fought in the First World War.
The author - who teaches at the University of New Orleans - was emotional as he accepted the lucrative award, which he said would allow him to continue to push his literary goals.
"It means that I am allowed to continue writing and I will always write about the First Nations of Canada and I will always celebrate and be behind the First Nations of Canada," he said.
"And I will always push the message that we need to heal."
This year's Giller judging panel was made up of authors Margaret Atwood and Colm Toibin and politician Bob Rae.
Atwood called "Through Black Spruce" - which is published by Viking Canada/Penguin Group - a "terrific book" with a "great plot," "wonderful characters" and "tricky situations."
The runners-up, who each receive $5,000, were Montreal writer Rawi Hage for "Cockroach"; Marina Endicott of Cochrane, Alta., for "Good to a Fault"; Guelph, Ont., resident Mary Swan for "The Boys in the Trees"; and Toronto writer Anthony De Sa, for the short story collection, "Barnacle Love."
Created by businessman Jack Rabinovitch in memory of his late wife, literary journalist Doris Giller, the prize has become the biggest Canadian book bash of the year.
Shortlisted titles usually receive a boost in sales while the authors receive some rare media exposure.
Tory McNally, co-owner of McNally Robinson Booksellers in Winnipeg, says the annual televised literary bash is like Canada's "mini-Academy Awards."
"It makes a big difference to our authors to be celebrated," McNally said earlier Tuesday from Winnipeg as she prepared to host a Giller bash at her store.
"There are tons of customers who come in and read the Giller list."
On Tuesday, as always, the guest list was a glittering one.
Actor Albert Schultz and opera star Measha Brueggergosman mingled with literary luminaries such as Alice Munro and Atwood, as well as high-profile media types including Knowlton Nash and Pamela Wallin.
Those in attendance enjoyed a dinner of slow roasted beef tenderloin and mustard seed spatzle with roasted beets and French beans before the televised show began.
Last year's winner, novelist Elizabeth Hay, said her year as the reigning Giller champ has been a wild one.
"I'm actually happy to turn back into a pumpkin," she said shortly before Boyden's win was announced.
"It's been a long celebration. But I can't say I've been very productive as a writer."
"Canada AM" host Seamus O'Regan presided over the festivities, which were broadcast live on Bravo and are set to air Wednesday on CTV.