TORONTO - There was some shock in Canada's literary world Tuesday when Margaret Atwood failed to make the short list for the Scotiabank Giller Prize, but one finalist for the country's most lucrative book award said surprise is what makes the contest great.
Kim Echlin, shortlisted for her third novel, "The Disappeared," alongside four other authors, said Giller juries have never been shy about making surprising or controversial choices.
"It feels great to be in the company of any Giller list, the Giller has a long tradition of choosing very good works of fiction and with each year (there are) surprises about omissions and inclusions," she said.
"But, generally, Giller lists are very well-written fiction, finely imagined fiction, so it's wonderful to be in that company, of course."
The crop of candidates for the annual award were pared down to five Tuesday from an initial field of 96 novels, of which 12 were longlisted, including Atwood's "The Year of the Flood."
The other books that made the final list were CBC broadcaster Linden MacIntyre's "The Bishop's Man" (Random House Canada), Anne Michaels' "The Winter Vault" (McClelland & Stewart), Colin McAdam's "Fall" (Hamish Hamilton Canada), and Annabel Lyon's debut novel, "The Golden Mean" (Random House Canada).
Michaels said she was "absolutely delighted" to be named.
"It's a wonderful list and the Giller (is known for) its selection of very strong books, so I'm very honoured to be on the list."
The idea of having non-Canadians among the judges -- American Russell Banks and Brit Victoria Glendinning joined Canadian Alistair Macleod -- for this year's $50,000 prize was an inspired decision that reflects the country's multicultural traditions and the blurring of the world's borders, said Echlin.
"We're in a world where the borders are increasingly fluid and in Canada we're in a culture where there's a great deal of mixing of people from all parts of the world," she said.
"I think in terms of our consciousness we consider ourselves as part of a world culture, and so it's interesting to have judges that reflect us back to us."
Banks said the judges narrowed down the titles during a number of phone conversations and were able to make their decision "congenially," without too many major disagreements. But he predicted that choosing a winner will be much more difficult.
"Going from 96 to 12 wasn't as difficult as going from 12 to five, and I suspect although we haven't started it yet, going from five to one is going to be even harder."
Banks said he identified three themes that seemed to recur in the books he judged for the Giller: Canada's vast space and land, immigration, and encounters with history.
"Those three coming together seem to be characteristic of the lesser books as well as the better books," he said.
Glendinning caused a bit of a stir in recent weeks after she wrote about Canadian literature and her experience as a Giller juror in the British Financial Times newspaper.
"Reading almost 100 works of Canadian fiction, as one of the judges for this year's Giller, is a life-enhancing experience, and gives a glimpse into the culture," she wrote, and explained how Canadians say "eavestrough" instead of "gutter" and love their tuques and Muskoka chairs.
But it was her comments about how some of the Giller nominees were "unbelievably dreadful," the "striking homogeneity in the muddy middle range of novels," and industry funding that caused some rankles in the literary world here.
"It seems in Canada that you only have to write a novel to get grants from the Canada Council for the Arts and from your provincial Arts Council," she wrote. "If you want to get your novel published, be Canadian."
On Tuesday, she said she was a bit bewildered by the backlash and surprised that some Canadians would take offence at her column.
"It didn't enter my head that a country so prosperous, so successful, so large as Canada and so honourable -- you're the only country that didn't get had by the prime mortgage rubbish -- could possibly be condescended to, it didn't enter my head," Glendinning said, and added that she thinks the country's funding for literature is a great thing.
"To us it seems marvellous that publishers are subsized, that sometimes writers are subsized, it's unbelievable, " she said.
"I hope you know how lucky you are because I think it's unique in a world . . . never complain about your country."
The Giller winner will be announced at a dinner to be held Nov. 10 in Toronto.
