TORONTO -- Even with a lengthy list of awards and accolades to her credit, Emma Donoghue says there's a special distinction in being recognized by the Scotiabank Giller Prize.
"(For) Canadian writers, I don't think anything gives us quite as much of a glow as getting on any Giller list. It's got such a great reputation, this prize," Donoghue said in a phone interview on Wednesday.
Four years after making the long list for "The Sealed Letter," the Irish-born, London, Ont.-based author of the celebrated novel "Room" is once again in contention for the $100,000 award.
Donoghue was named to the Giller long list on Wednesday for her new book "The Wonder" (HarperCollins). Joining her on the long list are Madeleine Thien and past Giller winner David Bergen.
Winnipeg-based Bergen won the Giller in 2005 for "The Time in Between." He is in the running this year for his novel "Stranger" (HarperCollins).
Vancouver-born, Montreal-based Thien made the cut for "Do Not Say We Have Nothing" (Knopf Canada), which is also up for the Man Booker Prize.
Montreal-born author Mona Awad was also recognized for her debut "13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl" (Penguin Random House Canada), which received the $40,000 Amazon.ca First Novel Award in May.
Other novels on the long list are Gary Barwin for "Yiddish for Pirates" (Random House Canada); Susan Perly for "Death Valley" (Buckrider Books); Andrew Battershill for "Pillow" (Coach House Books); Catherine Leroux for "The Party Wall" (Biblioasis International Translation Series); Steven Price for "By Gaslight" (McClelland & Stewart) and Zoe Whittall for "The Best Kind of People" (House of Anansi Press).
A pair of short story collections are also in contention for the prize: Kathy Page for "The Two of Us" (A John Metcalf Book, an imprint of Biblioasis) and Kerry Lee Powell for "Willem De Kooning's Paintbrush" (HarperAvenue, an imprint of HarperCollins).
The long list of 12 titles was chosen from 161 books submitted by 69 publisher imprints.
This year's jury is made up of Canadian writers Lawrence Hill (jury chair), Jeet Heer and Kathleen Winter, along with British author Samantha Harvey and Scottish writer Alan Warner.
The Scotiabank Giller Prize 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 prize is named in honour of the late literary journalist Doris Giller and was founded in 1994 by her husband, Toronto businessman Jack Rabinovitch.
Andre Alexis was awarded the 2015 prize for "Fifteen Dogs" (Coach House).
This year's award will be handed out Nov. 7
