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Giller contender Kim Thuy

CBC News

Posted: Oct 24, 2012 6:03 PM ET

Last Updated: Oct 24, 2012 5:59 PM ET

Five Canadian authors are in the running for the 2012 Giller Prize, with one writer set to receive the coveted trophy and $50,000 at a glitzy gala in Toronto on Oct. 30.

Founded by Jack Rabinovitch in 1994 in memory of his late wife, literary journalist Doris Giller, the annual award has become one of the country’s most prominent and lucrative fiction-writing honours.

New author Kim Thuy is a Giller nominee for her book Ru, a memoir told in poetic vignettes that weave between her escape from Vietnam through her time in a Malaysian refugee camp to her new life in Canada.

In the video above, Montrealer Thuy tells CBC about the serendipity and double meaning behind the title Ru, why she loves doing interviews and the time she was approached about writing such an "odorous" book.

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