Giller Prize releases long list, drops Scotiabank from name
TORONTO — The group of authors in contention for this year’s $100,000 Giller Prize has been whittled down to 12, but one name is notably absent from the list: Bank of Nova Scotia.
The big bank remains the lead sponsor of the award, but its name has been removed from the prize title, Elana Rabinovitch, executive director of the Giller Foundation said Wednesday.
The rebranding comes after protesters disrupted 2023’s ceremony to decry the bank’s investment in an Israeli weapons manufacturer.
“Ultimately, more than ever, we want to ensure the prize stays true to its purpose: to celebrate the best in Canadian fiction and to give the stage to Canada’s best storytellers,” Rabinovitch said in an email. “For us, that means ensuring the focus remains solely on the prize and the art itself.”
In the months since last year’s protest, members of the literary community have pushed for the Giller Foundation to end its 20-year partnership with Scotiabank, as well as financial relationships with other sponsors they say have ties to Israel’s army.
That includes Indigo Books & Music Inc., whose chief executive Heather Reisman is the founder of Hesig Foundation, which offers funding to so-called lone soldiers — people who join the Israeli Defense Forces despite not having family in the country.
The two international judges on this year’s five-member jury resigned from their positions in July and numerous authors — including past prize contenders — withdrew their names from consideration for the award.
Jody Chan, a poet and organizer with CanLit Responds, the group issuing the calls to the Giller, said removing Scotiabank’s name from the prize does not address the writers’ concerns.
“It’s very in line with how the Giller has been responding
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