Gitxsan Territory-based writer Angélique Lalonde named to 2021 Scotiabank Giller Prize shortlist
In Lalonde’s Glorious Frazzled Beings, four sisters and their mother explore their fears while teeny ghost people dress up in fragments of their children’s clothes
Angélique Lalonde.
GITXSAN TERRITORY-BASED writer Angélique Lalonde has been named to the 2021 Scotiabank Giller Prize shortlist for her story collection Glorious Frazzled Beings (House of Anansi Press).
“Home is where we love, suffer, and learn,” reads the publisher’s synopsis. “Some homes we chose, others are inflicted upon us, and still others are bodies we are born into. In this astounding collection of stories, human and more-than-human worlds come together in places we call home.
“Four sisters and their mother explore their fears while teeny ghost people dress up in fragments of their children’s clothes. A somewhat-ghost tends the family garden. Deep in the mountains, a shapeshifting mother must sift through her ancestors’ gifts and the complexities of love when one boy is born with a beautiful set of fox ears and another is not. In the wake of her elderly mother’s tragic death, a daughter tries to make sense of the online dating profile she left behind. And a man named Pooka finds new ways to weave new stories into his abode, in spite of his inherited suffering.”
Lalonde, who grew up in Ktunaxa Territory and who is of Métis and Québécois heritage, has a PhD in anthropology from the University of Victoria. Her story “Pooka” was runner up for PRISM international’s Jacob Zilber Prize for Short Fiction.
The four other authors named as Giller finalists are: Omar El Akkad for his novel What Strange Paradise (McClelland & Stewart); Cheluchi Onyemelukwe-Onuobia for her novel The Son of The House (Dundurn Press); Jordan Tannahill for his novel The Listeners (HarperCollins Canada); and Miriam Toews for her novel Fight Night (Knopf Canada).
This year’s jury—made up of Canadian authors Zalika Reid-Benta (jury chair), Megan Gail Coles, and Joshua Whitehead; Malaysian novelist Tash Aw, and American author Joshua Ferris—narrowed down the 132 submitted works to 12 to create the longlist and today announced the shortlisted authors.
The winner will be announced on November 8.
For more information, see the Scotiabank Giller Prize.
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