Shrapnel’s Giller Prize 2022 Shortlist Predictions
Our team, being the literary prize nerds that we are, couldn’t resist taking the opportunity to speculate which titles on Giller Prize longlist will make the cut. This longlist is one of the strongest in our collective memories of following the Giller Prize, and we would be delighted to see any of the books make it to the shortlist and even the winner slot. Regardless of our silly speculation, it’s our hope that each of the authors on the longlist have long and fruitful careers and that we get to read much more from each of them.
UPDATE: The shortlist results are below:
Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century by Kim Fu
Stay Dogs by Rawi Hage
The Sleeping Car Porter by Suzette Mayr
If an Egyptian Cannot Speak English by Noor Naga
We Measure The Earth With Our Bodies by Tsering Yangzom Lama
You know what? 3/5 isn't bad! It was a delight to try to tap into the #GillerPrize jury's wavelength with our shortlist predictions. Congratulations to all the shortlisted authors!
A Minor Chorus by Billy-Ray Belcourt
It only takes a page or two before you’re blown away by Billy-Ray Belcourt’s writing. Simply put, he is one of the finest writers of our time and, after adoring his memoir A History of My Brief Body, we eagerly awaited his first novel. His writing has a slow burn and haunting ability, inviting every word and chapter to stay with you. We would be massively shocked if Minor Chorus didn’t make the shortlist.
Stray Dogs by Rawi Hage
Hage’s short story collection perfectly showcases his command of craft and writing prowess in tales that leap across the globe in purposeful encounters, from Montreal, Beirut, Tokyo, Berlin, among others. We adore the characters that inhabit these worlds with their restless states of mind, and also Hage’s examination of modern identities and societal conventions. A well-decorated author and previous Giller nominee, perhaps this is Hage’s time for the Giller.
What We Both Know by Fawn Parker
Parker shared that she wrote the first draft of What We Both Know in one month, and lightning clearly struck in this novel about a woman whose famous writer father begins to struggle with dementia, leading to her ghostwriting his memoir. With complex familial conflict as well as meditations on memory and the craft of writing itself, we’re pretty confident that the jury ate this novel up like we did.
The Sleeping Car Porter by Suzette Mayr
It’s 1929, and Baxter, a queer Black sleeping car porter, is making his way across Canada on a passenger train to save up for dental school. Trapped on the train after a mudslide, this bottle episode-esque narrative details the drama of the unruly white passengers and Baxter’s sleep-deprivation hallucinations. The Sleeping Car Porter is one of the more energetic of the Giller longlisted titles, masterfully animating this notable and historic occupation with plenty of life.
If An Egyptian Cannot Speak English by Noor Naga
Who doesn’t adore a good multi-POV novel where the narrative alternates between two compelling perspectives? It can be hard to pull off, but Naga shows mastery over the form in If An Egyptian Cannot Speak English. This novel has a bit of everything—romance, alternating voices, commentary on politics and society, darkly complex characters—and we’re betting the jury appreciates it as well.