The Readers' Choice Contest
Throughout August, CBC Books invited Canadian fiction fans to support an eligible book to be added to this year's Scotiabank Giller Prize longlist. It was the first time members of the public were able to have a say in which books would be in the running for the prestigious $50,000 literary prize for fiction.
We received more than 4,000 nominations from across the country. It's been amazing to see which books shot up the ranks as word of the contest spread across the country, with some books getting incredible surges of support as the nomination deadline drew to a close on Aug. 28. You can read many featured nominations here.
At the beginning of the contest, books like Everything Was Good-bye by Gurjinder Basran, The Time We All Went Marching by Arley McNeney, Monoceros by Suzette Mayr, and The Canterbury Trail by Angie Abdou, took an early lead. But as more people got word of the contest, other books catapulted up the list, fueled by social media campaigns organized by supporters.
In the end, one particular book had a meteoric finish, garnering the most nominations during the final few days of the contest.
The Readers' Choice is Extensions by Myrna Dey.
From Quill & Quire:
"At first glance, Myrna Dey's debut novel offers a familiar set-up: a modern-day city slicker finds a packet of letters written by her great-grandmother Jane, a Welsh immigrant battling poverty and loneliness amid the misery of a Vancouver Island mining town. The exploration of a character's identity through the prism of an ancestor's life is a popular conceit in Canadian literature, but Dey injects new life into it. Extensions is an engrossing story that includes sex and romance, murder and larceny, and a smattering of Canadian history."
To read the full review, click here.
Congratulations to Myrna and thanks to everyone who submitted a nomination. Here's a look at the Top 10 books after all the eligible nominations were tallied.
1. Extensions by Myrna Dey (6.9 per cent of total eligible nominations)
2. The Canterbury Trail by Angie Abdou (5.6 per cent )
3. Everything Was Good-bye by Gurjinder Basran (5.5 per cent)
4. Copernicus Avenue by Andrew Borkowski (3.6 per cent)
5. Hope Burned by Brent LaPorte (3.5 per cent)
6. Echoes from the Other Land by Ava Homa (3 per cent )
7. Man & Other Natural Disasters by Nerys Parry (2.6 per cent) *
8. Don't Be Afraid by Steven Hayward (2.6 per cent) *
9. Incidents in the Life of Markus Paul by David Adams Richards (2.3 per cent)
10. The Meaning of Children by Beverly Akerman (2.2 per cent)
*tied for seventh place
We received more than 4,000 nominations from across the country. It's been amazing to see which books shot up the ranks as word of the contest spread across the country, with some books getting incredible surges of support as the nomination deadline drew to a close on Aug. 28. You can read many featured nominations here.
At the beginning of the contest, books like Everything Was Good-bye by Gurjinder Basran, The Time We All Went Marching by Arley McNeney, Monoceros by Suzette Mayr, and The Canterbury Trail by Angie Abdou, took an early lead. But as more people got word of the contest, other books catapulted up the list, fueled by social media campaigns organized by supporters.
In the end, one particular book had a meteoric finish, garnering the most nominations during the final few days of the contest.
The Readers' Choice is Extensions by Myrna Dey.
From Quill & Quire:"At first glance, Myrna Dey's debut novel offers a familiar set-up: a modern-day city slicker finds a packet of letters written by her great-grandmother Jane, a Welsh immigrant battling poverty and loneliness amid the misery of a Vancouver Island mining town. The exploration of a character's identity through the prism of an ancestor's life is a popular conceit in Canadian literature, but Dey injects new life into it. Extensions is an engrossing story that includes sex and romance, murder and larceny, and a smattering of Canadian history."
To read the full review, click here.
Congratulations to Myrna and thanks to everyone who submitted a nomination. Here's a look at the Top 10 books after all the eligible nominations were tallied.
1. Extensions by Myrna Dey (6.9 per cent of total eligible nominations)
2. The Canterbury Trail by Angie Abdou (5.6 per cent )
3. Everything Was Good-bye by Gurjinder Basran (5.5 per cent)
4. Copernicus Avenue by Andrew Borkowski (3.6 per cent)
5. Hope Burned by Brent LaPorte (3.5 per cent)
6. Echoes from the Other Land by Ava Homa (3 per cent )
7. Man & Other Natural Disasters by Nerys Parry (2.6 per cent) *
8. Don't Be Afraid by Steven Hayward (2.6 per cent) *
9. Incidents in the Life of Markus Paul by David Adams Richards (2.3 per cent)
10. The Meaning of Children by Beverly Akerman (2.2 per cent)
*tied for seventh place
