The Canadian writer Joseph Boyden won the Scotiabank Giller Prize, one of the biggest Canadian literary awards. He now would be recognize amongst the upper echelon of Canadian authors. The ceremony held in the ballroom of the Four Seasons Hotel in downtown Toronto last night.
Rawi Hage, the IMPAC winner of this year Dublin Award, the world’s most lucrative literary prize, hugged and congratulated Boyden by saying:
“I thought it was going to be you.”
Here is what Boyden had to say after his win (via the National Post):
On how he’ll celebrate the victory:
“One of my dearest friends in the world…who actually inspired Will Bird, the character Will Bird — he’s a fantastic outdoorsman and hunter and trapper and he does snowmobiling tours up in Moosonee, so I’m going to get up there end of January, beginning of February, and spend some time with him then. That’s something I’m really excited to do.
On scholarship for First Nations teens he is planning on setting up:
“That’s something I’ve been wanting to do for years. I’ve finally, I think, been giving an opportunity to do it. So I want to start just a small scholarship at first and see where it goes — helping out an aboriginal student who wants to go to university and needs some help with books and finances and stuff. I’ve never done this before, so I’m going to look into trying to find somebody who will match the funds, that kind of idea, and get a permanent scholarship going.”
On the First Nations peoples of Canada:
“We need to bridge some divides that are going on right now. We’ve begun that. It’s going to be painful, but there’s going to be a lot of beauty that comes out of this kind of healing circle that has begun.”
“For me, it’s all about bringing some light onto Canada’s First Nations. To no longer romanticize, necessarily. To show it for all of its scars and its pimples, but also its gorgeous raven black hair shining in the sunlight.”
On winning:
“I’m not going to lie, this is a gigantic honour. I am thrilled to death.”
“It’s going to change my life in good ways, I think. In very good ways.”
On not letting the award go to his head:
“I try to veer away from any of that kind of stuff because it can become as addictive as cocaine; if you start checking your Amazon sales rank, and how you’re doing in the press, and Googling your name. So I’ve always avoided that - or tried to, the best I can. And I’ll admit that once in a while I’ll slip into that.”
On the judges said:
“Suzanne Bird, a beautiful aboriginal model from the James Bay coast, goes missing in New York. In a gripping story filled with humour, suspense, and remarkable insights into both nature and human nature, Joseph Boyden takes us on two journeys. Suzanne’s sister Annie retraces her sister’s steps, from the Native poverty below the Gardiner Expressway to the extravagant fast lanes of New York. Will, their uncle, follows a very different path as he deals with the demons of memory, revenge, and darkest loss. In spare prose that ranges from lyrical to brutal, the two journeys are brought together brilliantly. Joseph Boyden shows us unforgettable characters and a northern landscape in a way we have never seen them before.”
The Giller Prize was established by Toronto businessman Jack Rabinovitch in honor of his late wife Doris Giller, a former literary editor at the Toronto Star, in 1994.
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