McClelland & Stewart Author Omar El Akkad Wins the 2021 Scotiabank Giller Prize
TORONTO, Nov. 9, 2021 /CNW/ - Omar El Akkad has won the 2021 Scotiabank Giller Prize, Canada's most prestigious literary award for fiction, for his novel What Strange Paradise, edited and published by Jared Bland for McClelland & Stewart, a division of Penguin Random House Canada. The prize was awarded on Monday, November 8 at the Giller's annual gala ceremony, held in person at Toronto's Park Hyatt hotel for the first time since 2019 and broadcast nationally on the CBC.
In its citation, the jury wrote, "Amid all the anger and confusion surrounding the global refugee crisis, Omar El Akkad's What Strange Paradise paints a portrait of displacement and belonging that is at once unflinching and tender. In examining the confluence of war, migration, and a sense of settlement, it raises questions of indifference and powerlessness and, ultimately, offers clues as to how we might reach out empathetically in a divided world." El Akkad, having been announced the winner by last year's laureate Souvankham Thammavongsa, paid tribute to his parents in accepting his award, calling it "by far the greatest honour of my career."
Bland, El Akkad's editor, publisher of McClelland & Stewart, and Penguin Random House Canada vice president, said, "What Strange Paradise is a profound exploration of empathy, humanity, dignity, and compassion. Yet it is also an unsparing indictment of the cruelty and willful blindness of the world. In balancing these forces so delicately, with such tender precision, it becomes an essential book of our time. It is deeply meaningful to see this unforgettable novel recognized by the Scotiabank Giller Prize, and all of us at McClelland & Stewart are immensely proud to publish the brilliant Omar El Akkad."
The Scotiabank Giller Prize is Canada's richest literary award, carrying a purse of $100,000 to the winner. What Strange Paradise is the second novel by El Akkad, an author and journalist whose first work of fiction, American War, won the 2018 Kobo Emerging Writer Prize for fiction and the 2018 Oregon Book Award for fiction as well as being shortlisted for the 2017 Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize, the 2018 Amazon First Novel Award, the 2018 Arthur C. Clarke Award, and the 2018 edition of Canada Reads, among other honours. For his work in journalism, El Akkad is the recipient of Canada's National Newspaper Award for investigative reporting and the Goff Penny Memorial Prize for Young Canadian Journalists.
Also on the shortlist for this year's prize was Penguin Random House Canada author Miriam Toews for Fight Night, edited by Lynn Henry and published by Knopf Canada; on the longlist were Astra by Cedar Bowers (McClelland & Stewart), Em by Kim Thúy and translated by Sheila Fischman (Random House Canada), and The Strangers by Katherena Vermette (Hamish Hamilton Canada). This is the tenth time overall and the second year in a row that a book published by McClelland & Stewart has won the Giller Prize, with Thammavongsa having taken home the award in 2020 for her short story collection How to Pronounce Knife. El Akkad's win brings the total number of Penguin Random House Canada books to have been honoured by the prize since its inception in 1994 to twenty-one.
The members of the 2021 Scotiabank Giller Prize jury were Joshua Whitehead, Tash Aw, Megan Gail Coles, Joshua Ferris, and Zalika Reid-Benta, the jury chair. They selected this year's twelve nominees, five finalists, and ultimate winner from a total of 132 books.
For more information about the Scotiabank Giller Prize and this year's finalists, visit scotiabankgillerprize.ca.
For more than 100 years, McClelland & Stewart, a division of Penguin Random House Canada, has helped to shape and champion Canada's cultural conversation. It continues to assert an independent spirit by taking bold risks that push the boundaries of literary excellence, challenge the status quo, and reflect the rich and diverse range of voices in Canada and around the world. For more information visit penguinrandomhouse.ca.
SOURCE Penguin Random House Canada Limited
Scott Sellers at [email protected] or (416) 957-1564
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