Meet the Jury - 2012 Scotiabank Giller Prize

The Scotiabank Giller Prize has announced the judges for the upcoming 2012 prize. As per recent tradition, the jury includes includes an international literary heavyweight, i.e. Irishman Roddy Doyle. Also chosen were Canadian author/publisher Anna Porter and up and coming Russian-American author Gary Shteyngart.


Roddy Doyle is particularly well known for his two trilogies, The Barrytown Trilogy and The Last Round-up.

The Barrytown Trilogy is comprised of: The Commitments; The Snapper; and The Van. The Last Round-up includes: A Star Called Henry; Oh, Play that Thing!; and The Dead Republic. Roddy Doyle also won the 1993 Man Booker Prize for Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha. He is also the founder of Fighting Words (the write to right), a exciting non-profit creative writing centre for students in Dublin.


Anna Porter is the founder of Key Porter Books, as well as an award winning author. She won the 2007 Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction for Kasztner's Train, as well as the 2011 Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for excellence in Political Writing for Ghosts of Europe. She was also named as an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1991.



Gary Shteyngart first popped up on many reader's radar when he was included in the New Yorker's article 20 Under 40, a list of notable new writers. His first novel, The Russian Debutante's Handbook won the Stephen Crane Award and was a New York Times notable book. Absurdistan was chosen as top book of the year by many reviewers, including the New York Times Book Review and Time magazine. Super Sad Love Story won the 2010 Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction.

Certainly an interesting mix of talent and backgrounds. Now bring on the longlist.