Since 2006, the English Department has brought Scotiabank Giller Prize winners to campus for public readings and book signings, with graduating students in English receiving free copies of the prize-winning book. This has been made possible by the generosity of donor Diane King and, more recently, the support of the Scotiabank Giller Foundation. Starting in 2022, the Scotiabank Giller Prize Event will be built into a course for graduating students in English and Creative Writing and will be planned and run entirely by students.
Scotiabank Giller Prize winners who have participated in this event include:
- Souvankham Thammavongsa How to Pronounce Knife (2020)
- Michael Redhill Bellevue Square (2017)
- Madeleine Thien Do Not Say We Have Nothing (2016)
- Andr茅 Alexis Fifteen Dogs (2015)
- Sean Michaels Us Conductors (2014)
- Lynn Coady Hellgoing (2013)
- Will Ferguson 419 (2012)
- Esi Edugyan Half-Blood Blues (2011)
- Johanna Skibsrud The Sentimentalists (2010)
- Linden MacIntyre The Bishop鈥檚 Man (2009)
- Joseph Boyden Through Black Spruce (2008)
- Elizabeth Hay Late Nights on Air (2006)
Our 2023 Giller Prize Event
Our 2022 Giller Prize Event
Watch Dr. Sam McKegney, head of the English department, interview 2021 Giller Prize winner and Queen's Writer in Residence Omar El Akkad:
Watch our 2022 Giller Prize Event with Omar El Akkad:
Our 2021 Giller Prize Event
Watch the Department of English鈥檚 2020 Writer in Residence Kaie Kellough in conversation with 2020 Scotiabank Giller Prize Winner, Souvankham Thammavongsa, author of How to Pronounce Knife.
Our 2018 Giller Prize Event
Our 2017 Giller Prize Event