AP News, November 8th, 2007
Elizabeth Hay, a former radio journalist who long hoped to write a novel about her "golden summer" working in northern Canada in the 1970s, won the lucrative Scotiabank Giller Prize for her novel "Late Nights on Air."
"I am very thrilled and very lucky — so lucky in fact that I'll probably be hit by a truck tomorrow," Hay joked as she accepted the $40,000 prize. "It's important that I say my thank-yous now."
The Giller Prize is considered one of the most prestigious in Canadian literature. Past winners have included such stars as Margaret Atwood, Mordecai Richler, Michael Ondaatje and Alice Munro.
"Late Nights on Air," inspired by Hay's own years working at a CBC radio station in Yellowknife for a decade beginning in 1974, tells the story of a hard-bitten journalist who falls in love with a voice on the radio.
She has said she considered her years working in Yellowknife to be some of the sweetest of her life; much of the book was inspired by her time there.
Along with Hay, four novels were also nominated for this year's prize: Michael Ondaatje's "Divisadero," M.J. Vassanji's "The Assassin's Song," Alissa York's "Effigy" and Daniel Poliquin's "A Secret Between Us." The runners-up receive $2,500 each.
The Giller was created in 1994 by businessman Jack Rabinovitch in memory of his late wife, literary journalist Doris Giller. It honors the best in Canadian fiction. Judges this year included author and 2005 Giller Prize winner David Bergen, author Camilla Gibb and author, poet and artist Lorna Goodison. This year's prize was awarded Tuesday night.
Giller Prize: http://www.scotiabankgillerprize.ca
