Protesters are escorted out of the Four Seasons Hotel by the police after interrupting the Scotiabank Giller Prize ceremony in Toronto, on Nov. 13, 2023.Chris Young/The Canadian Press
Among Canadian literary awards, the Scotiabank Giller Prize is the big kahuna: the best known and the biggest monetary prize available exclusively to a Canadian author. It also has a quantifiable impact on book sales.
That reputation has been tarnished because of recent events that have nothing to do with Canadian literature, the prize or its recipients. I’m not sure how there can ever be a Giller Prize moving forward without an asterisk. And what a loss that is.
Those protesting will say that the diminishment of the prize is nothing compared with the gutting losses in Gaza. They’re right, of course.
But what good can targeting a Canadian literary prize do in terms of ending a horrific overseas war?
The problem is the Giller’s sponsor, Scotiabank – specifically its investments in Elbit Systems, an Israeli weapons manufacturer. This first became clear when protesters infiltrated the swanky Giller ceremony – and live TV broadcast – last November. Some 2,000 authors signed an open letter calling for charges against those protesters to be dropped.
A new open letter has been signed by potential 2024 Giller nominees, saying they will not submit their work for consideration. Some past nominees and winners also signed.
The letter demands that the prize not only drop its relationship with Scotiabank, but that the Giller Foundation use its “organizational leverage” to pressure Scotiabank to fully divest from Elbit (which perhaps overestimates how much sway a literary prize has over a bank’s investment decisions).
It also demands the organization cut ties with Indigo, the Azrieli Foundation and Audible, “all sponsors who are actively invested in Israel’s ongoing genocide of Palestinians.”
Audible is problematic because it is owned by Amazon, which partners with the tech company Palantir, whose chief executive, the letter states, supports Israel’s military actions in Gaza.
So where is the open letter against the Amazon Canada First Novel Award? (As it turns out, Audible says it is no longer a sponsor of the Giller, which the letter was amended to acknowledge.)
If Indigo is such a problem (the bookstore chain is controlled by Gerald Schwartz and Heather Reisman, who fund a scholarship for non-Israelis who enlist with the Israeli Army), then why allow your publisher to continue to sell your books there?
Ms. Reisman is also criticized for donating to Hillel, which provides on-campus support to Jewish postsecondary students (who have never needed support more). Hillel also fights antisemitism on campus (ditto).
As for the Azrieli Foundation, its main work in books has been publishing memoirs of Canadian Holocaust survivors. It also funds prizes and grants in music, architecture and science. Some of the institutions it funds are in Israel. Its founder, a Holocaust survivor himself, fought for Israel in the 1948 War of Independence, also known as the Nakba, which is called out by the letter.
“As long as the Giller Foundation continues to receive funding from ANY sponsors who are directly invested in Israel’s occupation of Palestine, it will still be complicit in genocide.”
So if those are the rules, what about other prize funders?
I recently received an upbeat e-mail from the Carol Shields Prize for Fiction announcing various initiatives. Its main sponsor is Bank of Montreal. A quick Google search tells me that the bank is on the “shame list” of the Canadian BDS Coalition, which says BMO has investments in Israeli settlements, citing the Dutch organization Bank Track.
If that’s the case, are authors also withdrawing their books from consideration for that prize?
Whataboutism can be a futile exercise. But here’s a terrible thing: There are people who suspect the Giller is being targeted not just because of its sponsor, but because the prize was founded by a philanthropist named Jack Rabinovitch and is now run by his daughter, Elana Rabinovitch. Rabinovitch is an obviously Jewish name.
I personally know some of the people who have signed that letter and I am certain they are not antisemitic. But this is where we are.
In any case, imagine what these corporations that dump all this money into cultural prizes are thinking right now. They do it for a variety of reasons, some more self-serving than others, but certainly among them is the goodwill it generates for their brand. So why send their people into these ceremonies to be booed and humiliated? Why pay all this money to receive the opposite of goodwill?
My fear is these companies will pick up their toys (and cash) and go home. Who loses? The artists (and publishers) who could use the financial and promotional boost. Also the readers, who will lose exposure to good Canadian books.
The corporations will find other things to do with their billions, or perhaps leave more money in their coffers – more dividends for their shareholders.
As for the Giller, it appears to be in disarray. Two jurors have withdrawn. The criticism has gained a lot of traction.
And whoever wins this year, if the prize does go ahead, will always have that asterisk next to their name. That’s a shame. And I don’t know how it will help the people of Gaza.