The three-person jury was made up of Prose, British novelist Justin Cartwright and Canadian writer Shauna Singh Baldwin. The finalists were: David Bezmozgis, The Betrayers (HarperCollins) Frances Itani, Tell (HarperCollins) Sean Michaels, Us Conductors (Random House) Heather O’Neill, The Girl Who Was Saturday Night (HarperCollins) Miriam Toews, All My Puny Sorrows (Knopf) and Padma Viswanathan, The Ever After of Ashwin Rao (Random House). The jury members had opted for a short list of six instead of the expected five books, with American author Francine Prose noting when the list was announced in early October that “all six were so good we just couldn’t bear to let one go.” This made it the richest literary award in Canada, exceeding even Britain’s Man Booker Prize of £50,000 (about $90,000). In his acceptance speech, Michaels referred generally to the issue of abuse and violence, saying: “We must believe women, and men, and go forth and undo harm.”Īnticipation for the Giller Prize was greater than ever this year thanks to the doubling of the prize purse - with $100,000 earmarked for the winner and $10,000 for each of the other finalists. Mercer’s only reference to the switch-up was introducing himself to the audience as “your Giller filler.” He also saluted another CBC host in the crowd, telling attendees: “When you think of CBC Radio, think of Carol Off.” Monday’s ceremony was hosted by popular broadcaster and comedian Rick Mercer, who was brought in just a few weeks ago to replace Jian Ghomeshi, former host of CBC radio program Q, after Ghomeshi was fired by the broadcaster following allegations of sexual harassment and inappropriate conduct. Michaels, a Montreal music critic, founded Said the Gramophone, one of the earliest music blogs. Us Conductors is about the history of the theremin, a musical instrument that is suddenly getting a lot of attention. (The novel was first published in trade paperback.) He joked that Michaels was getting the hardcover treatment “because it’s faster,” not because it’s more expensive. Michaels’ editor, Anne Collins, said: “It was so easy to take a chance with him.”īrad Martin, CEO of Penguin Random House Canada, approached Michaels after the announcement and told him: “We’ll be reprinting your book in hardcover.” More established authors Miriam Toews and David Bezmozgis had been favoured to win this year’s prize. It was an upset victory for Michaels, a debut novelist.

It’s an incredible gift and I feel stupidly lucky.”

“It doesn’t feel … The words seem impossible to put together. “I’m beyond words,” said Michaels immediately after the ceremony. The announcement was made Monday night by Brian Porter, president of Scotiabank, at a gala held at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Toronto and broadcast live on CBC. Sean Michaels has won the 2014 Scotiabank Giller Prize for Canadian fiction, for his novel Us Conductors.

Us conductors by sean michaels