This year's televised Giller Prize has come and gone. And not a moment too soon. I watched the broadcast fitfully, but switched channels for good when Kim Cattrall came on and read from a teleprompter some script that I didn't believe for one minute. In case anyone missed it, Will Ferguson won for 419, a novel centred on Nigerian Internet ripoffs. You know the kind: some banking official has millions of dollars waiting for you, but only if you pony up a few thousand and send it to him as a show of good faith.
I can't comment on Ferguson's book, of course, because I haven't read it. I can comment, though, on Ferguson's get up for the evening. It was the Full Monty Scottish-style: kilt, sporran, dirk (dagger), knee socks, and so on. Good for him. If the Giller is going to remain a fixture on TV, whether I like it or not, then the CBC must inject some colour into the proceedings. Ferguson's dress was a good start, although Farley Mowat got there first with the Scottish outfit. Next, how about placing at the same table a handful of writers who genuinely dislike each other? Ply 'em with drinks and then stand back and watch what happens. Or let's have the presenters for the evening read excerpts from the finalists' worst reviews - likely written by someone just a few tables away. In other words, CBC and the Giller organizers should try to make the event rather more like those ill-tempered British awards that sow the seeds of literary feuds that last and last and which are hugely entertaining - and sell loads of books.
1 comment:
419 is rather pedestrian. It's the first Giller winner I've read. I wonder if it won more because of what it attempted than what it accomplished?
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