The same political controversies that marred last year's Giller Prize gala overshadowed this year's event as well. As Giller Prize gala attendees arrived at the Toronto Park Hyatt Hotel yesterday in the early evening, they were greeted outside the venue by a raucous crowd of 35-45 picketers protesting the Giller Foundation and the connections its major sponsors have with the Israel Defense Forces.
"While Giller organizers and corporate sponsors have cocktails inside, writers have formed a picket line outside the Prize’s ceremony," one protester declared on Instagram. "They are among the 200+ authors and book workers boycotting the Giller Prize until they drop Scotiabank, Indigo, and the Azrieli Foundation as sponsors."
According to a few picketers posting on social media, some had dressed formally to hold a "counter gala" across the street from the Park Hyatt, complete with a red carpet. There was a visible police presence at the event, with officers monitoring the protest activity.
Held by Anne Michaels (McClelland & Stewart, Sept.) received this year's Giller Prize, which since 1994 has been awarded to a novel or short story collection written by a Canadian author. Perhaps ironically, in light of the controversy over the prize, much of Held is set in war zones, including a French battlefield during World War I; the novel explores the impact of trauma upon love and identity, and received a starred review from PW. Michaels, a two-time runner-up for the award who lives in Toronto, received C$100,000 with the award, while the four finalists—Éric Chacour, Anne Fleming, Conor Kerr, and Deepa Rajagopalan—each received C$10,000.
While there was no overt mention of the protests outside during the gala, some speakers appeared to make subtle references to the controversy. Elana Rabinovitch, the executive director of the Giller Foundation whose late father, Jack Rabinovitch, founded the Giller Foundation in honor of his wife, Doris Giller, declared that the awards "will always be about the authors voices and nothing more."
Michaels, in accepting her award, emphasized that she stood in solidarity with all Canadian publishers and authors. "Our history is one of phenomenal assertion," she insisted. "And now, as then, we need unity not just within one community, but among all the arts, to forge practical alliances that proclaim our values."
For the first time in the 30-year history of the award, the ceremony last night was taped by the Canadian Broadcasting Association for viewing three hours later rather than aired live. The move was made to avoid a repetition of last year’s brief disruption of the televised live ceremony, when three protesters of Israel’s military operations in Gaza stormed the stage to protest Scotiabank, which has been the primary sponsor of the Giller Prize since 2005 and owns a stake in Elbit Systems, an Israeli arms manufacturer that provides equipment to the Israel Defense Forces. After the protesters were arrested, an open letter circulated, expressing solidarity with the protesters and demanding that all charges be dropped; it was signed by more than 2,000 people, including previous Giller Prize winners, finalists, and jurors.
On June 10, a group of authors issued a letter withdrawing their books from consideration for this year’s prize, demanding that the Giller Foundation exert pressure on Scotiabank to fully divest from Elbit. Two of this year's five Giller Prize judges, Dinaw Mengestu and Megha Majumdar, resigned shortly afterwards. (Scotiabank has since cut its stake in Elbit, but maintains an investment in the company.)
The group, calling themselves CanLit Responds and using the hashtag #NoBusinessAsUsualInCanLit, also demanded that the Giller Foundation terminate the sponsorships of Audible, the Azrieli Foundation, and Indigo, on the grounds that those companies benefit financially from ties to Israel’s military and, thus, its occupation of Gaza. Earlier this month, CanLit Responds called for a boycott of the awards ceremony by authors and those in the book industry, in a statement that as of Monday afternoon had been signed by 315 people.
While in early September the Giller Foundation switched the name of the prize from the ScotiaBank Giller Prize, its moniker since 2005, back to its original name in an effort to tamp down the criticisms, the organization at the same time affirmed its relationship with the corporation. In a statement posted to social media, the foundation said: "We are confident in the integrity of Scotiabank and in our partnership. And while we appreciate the range of views that have been shared, the foundation is not a political tool."
