Ferguson's 419 takes readers through the world of email scams (419 is the area code of Nigiria, the alleged source for many scams incloving disposed heads of state). The 2012 award was presented Oct. 30 at a gala ceremony at the Ritz-Carlton in Toronto by CBC host Jian Ghomeshi attended by over 500 members of the of the publishing, media and arts communities.
Will Ferguson's previous novels include: Beyond Belfast, Hitching Rides With Buddha, Canadian Pie, Happiness, Spanish Fly, and Why I Hate Canadians.
Established in 1994 by Toronto businessman Jack Rabinovitch in honour of his late wife, literary journalist Doris Giller, the Giller prize (now Scotiabank Giller Prize) has been awarded since 1994 for the best Canadian novel or short story collection published in English. Winners receive $50,000 and finalists on the shortlist receive $5,000.
Ferguson has entered the ranks of literary novelists with 419, a story that follows a Canadian editor from her comfortable life in Calgary to neo-liberalism’s lawless frontiers in the oil- and blood-drenched streets and backwaters of Nigeria. - From review of 419 in Quill & Quire
List of Past Giller Prize Winners:
- 2012 Will Ferguson, 419
- 2011 Esi Edugyan, Half-Blood Blues
- 2010 Johanna Skibsrud, The Sentimentalists
- 2009 Linden MacIntyre, The Bishop's Man
- 2008 Joseph Boyden, Through Black Spruce
- 2007 Elizabeth Hay, Late Nights on Air
- 2006 Vincent Lam, Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures
- 2005 David Bergen, The Time in Between
- 2004 Alice Munro, Runaway
- 2003 M.G. Vassanji, The In-Between World of Vikram Lall
- 2002 Austin Clarke, The Polished Hoe
- 2001 Sandra Birdsell, The Russlander
- 2000 Michael Ondaatje, Anil's Ghost David Adams Richards, Mercy Among the Children
- Alan Cumyn (only time 2 winners)
- 1999 Timothy Findley, Pilgrim
- 1998 Alice Munro, The Love of a Good Woman
- 1997 Michael Helm, The Projectionist
- 1996 Gail Anderson-Dargatz, The Cure for Death by Lightning
- 1995 Timothy Findley, The Piano Man's Daughter
- 1994 M.G. Vassanji, The Book of Secrets
Sources:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2012/10/30/giller-prize-2102-literary-gala.html
http://arts.nationalpost.com/2012/10/30/will-ferguson-wins-2012-giller-prize-for-419/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scotiabank_Giller_Prize
