UVic writer makes Giller short-list

Writing professor Bill Gaston has earned his first nomination for the Giller Prize for fiction, the Canadian literary competition known for its prestige and show-business sparkle.

Gaston, with his short story collection Mount Appetite, is in contention for the $25,000 prize with four others: Carol Shields (Unless); Austin Clarke (The Polished Hoe); Wayne Johnston (The Navigator of New York); and Lisa Moore (Open).

“I’ll rent a tux … take in the glamour and glitz and then watch Carol Shields accept her award,” Gaston said after hearing about being short-listed, a nomination which took some commentators by surprise. More seriously, Gaston feels he’s paid his dues (this is his ninth book) even if his work lacks the wider audience of “the kinds of books that win this award.”
The winner will be announced during a televised ceremony in Toronto on Nov. 5. A crew from the Bravo network will interview him for a three-minute profile segment to be shown during the broadcast.

Gaston, who joined the writing department in 1998, won the 1998/99 Canadian Literary Award for fiction. The title story of Mount Appetite first appeared in the UVic literary journal, The Malahat Review. He said the stories aren’t necessarily linked, but they all explore different, sometimes extreme, forms of desire.

Fellow nominee Moore has also had work published by the Malahat. “We’re the equal underdogs,” Gaston says.