Giller Prize longlist revealed September 8, but how are the books chosen?

One of Canada’s most prestigious literary awards announces its longlist on September 8, and Yellowknifer Jenn Baerg Steyn is helping choose the winner.

When Baerg Steyn, owner of Yellowknife Books, was first asked to sit on the jury, they “truthfully thought it was somebody spamming me.”

Since it was founded in 1994, the Giller Prize jury was made up of a panel of authors. This year, the jury comprised of independent Canadian booksellers, representing the North, West Coast, Prairies, Central Canada and Maritimes regions.

“Being that we are one of two bookstores in the North, I guess I had a 50-50 chance,” Baerg Steyn said.

The award recognizes fiction books written by Canadian authors, and Baerg Steyn said about 140 books were submitted to the prize this year.

The books were divided among the jury members. If one of the jury felt a book should be discussed, the rest of the jury members would read it too, said Baerg Steyn.

In total, Baerg Steyn estimates they read about 40 books between January to August, with a “big crunch” at the end.  In a usual year, Baerg Steyn reads an average of about two books a month, so this was a lot, even for a bookstore owner.

“It’s been a while since I’ve had to read under a deadline,” Baerg Steyn said. “I don’t have those brain muscles anymore to try to finish a book in a day, while doing other things.”

The jury has already collectively decided on the longlist and shortlist, which will be revealed on September 8 and October 5, respectively.

But the winner, who will receive $100,000 and one of Canada’s most lucrative fiction literature awards, isn’t decided until November 16.

On announcement day, the jury is “basically… going to sit down and hash it out,” Baerg Steyn said. The decision will be made by dinnertime, when the winner is announced in Toronto.

“So no one can think that they’re going to get anything out of me, because I have absolutely no idea who’s going to win,” Baerg Steyn said.

For the authors that have put their pride and joy, their blood, sweat, and tears, and all their life forward in a book, “we treated everyone’s books as sacred in this process,” Baerg Steyn said. “No decision was made lightly.”

Bearg Steyn has gotten used to keeping the jury’s deliberations secret as the jury itself was announced in January. Since then they have been “paranoid” in making sure no one “interested in trying to hunt down any type of Easter eggs” was able to get information about the books being considered.

“[I] have not brought in books that I was reading and that were on the list… trying to be as cagey as possible,” they said.

For now, they said readers can expect to see “quite a variety from across the country represented” on the longlist.

“Canadian authors were definitely taking on a variety of challenging topics for sure,” said Baerg Steyn.

“I would hope that it’s reflective of a desire to have more conversations with one another and more time spent looking at where we’ve been and where we could be going.”

Being on the jury has been a good reminder for Baerg Steyn to let books surprise them and engage with them past the surface.

Out of all the books they read, the one that they were “probably the most skeptical about liking” ended up becoming their favourite.

“I can’t wait to share it with folks once I’m allowed to say what that book was,” Baerg Steyn said. “For me, it’s my winner, regardless of what anyone else thinks.”

Once the official Giller Prize winner is announced, Baerg Steyn said they’ll feature “the ones that I loved and the ones that I found meaningful” at Yellowknife Books.