GOOD BOOK AWARDS

 The Scotiabank Giller Prize and The Cundill History Prize

   There is a great deal written about the JUNOS, EMMYS and OSCARS, but not so much about awards given to the writers of books. As a Canadian you may have heard about "The Gillers", perhaps because the winner this year will be announced by Rick Mercer tomorrow night at 9 on the CBC. It is awarded for a work of fiction, whereas, the little-known, "The Cundill", is for a non-fictional historical work.

   You will be relieved that I will not write much more, mainly because the official websites of each provide all the information you need, so you can stop here if you wish: "The Scotiabank Giller Prize." "The Cundill History Prize."

   The longlist for the 2023 Scotiabank Giller Prize consisted of 145 titles and the 5 finalists were announced on September 6 and they are:

"Sarah Bernstein for her novel Study For Obedience, published by Knopf Canada

Eleanor Catton for her novel Birnam Wood, published by McClelland & Stewart

Kevin Chong for his novel The Double Life of Benson Yu, published by Simon & Schuster

Dionne Irving for her short story collection, The Islands: Stories, published by Catapult

CS Richardson for his novel All The Colour in the World, published by Knopf Canada."

   The one bit of information I will call to your attention is that the author of the work bolded above, Eleanor Catton, was born in London, Ontario. That fact was reported by the Associated Press and published by CTV News ten years ago when she won "The Man Booker Prize" for The Luminaries " ("London, Ont.-born Writer Eleanor Catton Wins Man Booker Prize," CTV NEWS, Oct. 15, 2023.)

  Why was she born in London? The answer to such a question is the reason why you are reading MM. Her father, Philip, was a part-time instructor at UWO, got his Ph.D and later taught there as you will see from his Curriculum Vitae. His dissertation, if you must know: Science and the Systematicity of Nature : A Critique of Nancy Cartwright's Doctrine of Nature and Natural Science. If you are now curious about Nancy Cartwright, you are on your own. Apparently he has since moved on from philosophy to civil engineering! Kudos to both of them.

   Information about "The Cundill History Prize" is hosted by McGill and if you look at the link provided, do also view, "The Cundill History Hub." Back in 2017 I discussed this prize, which at that time was the richest one in the world for a work of non-fiction (and probably still is - $75,000) See, "Christmas Shopping for Historians."

   The winner does not have to be Canadian, by the way, and this year she is: Tania Branigan for, Red Memory: Living, Remembering and Forgetting China's Cultural Revolution." It may even be readable, given that:

"The prize reminds academic historians that there is a general reading public that wants to read serious history. So much scholarship nowadays is written for purely professional purposes: articles and books written for other specialists who then proceed to cite it in their own works. The more citations and downloads you have, the more “impact” you have, even if no schoolteacher of history (let alone a bank manager, engineer, or dentist) is ever going to read a word you have written. To some extent, this is right and proper: academics do need to satisfy their peers. But history as a discipline shouldn’t, in my view, take refuge in academe. The Cundill History Prize encourages historians who write for a general audience. Long may it continue!"