Acadia alumnus Russell Wangersky (’84) was one of five authors nominated for the prestigious 2012 Scotiabank Giller Prize, which was awarded Tuesday, October 30, 2012 to Will Ferguson for his novel, 419.

Wangersky’s short story collection, Whirl Away, published by Thomas Allen Publishers, was described by the Giller Jury as “a marvelous collection of stories. Regrets, mistakes, accidents – the stories are full of them and their consequences. They are full of people trying to cope, trying to change, trying to live. They are stories of lives close to breaking, written with great confidence and skill."

This is not the first time Wangersky, who lives and works in St. John’s, NF as an editor and columnist at the St. John’s Telegram, has flirted with the Giller. His short story collection The Hour of Bad Decisions (2006) was longlisted for the Prize and shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writer’s Prize, first book, Canada and the Caribbean.

His most recent book, The Glass Harmonica, won the 2011 BMO Winterset Award and was longlisted for the Relit Awards. A previous work, Burning Down the House: Fighting Fires and Losing Myself, won the British Columbia National Award for Non-Fiction as well as the Rogers Communications Newfoundland and Labrador Non-Fiction Book Award and the Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-Fiction.  

The Scotiabank Giller Prize is Canada’s most distinguished literary prize, awarding $50,000 annually to the author of the best Canadian novel or short story collection published in English. Finalists on the shortlist receive $5,000. The award was established in 1994 by Toronto businessman Jack Rabinovitch in honour of his late wife, literary journalist Doris Giller. In September 2005, Scotiabank became the first ever co-sponsor of the prize, and it has been known as the Scotiabank Giller Prize ever since.

Other nominees for the 2012 Scotiabank Giller Prize included: Alix Ohlin for her novel Inside; Nancy Richler for her novel The Imposter Bride; and Kim Thúy for her novel Ru, translated by Sheila Fischman.

To learn more about Russell Wangersky, please visit: http://www.russellwangersky.com/