{"id":14439,"date":"2025-07-16T18:53:15","date_gmt":"2025-07-16T18:53:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/14439\/"},"modified":"2025-07-16T18:53:15","modified_gmt":"2025-07-16T18:53:15","slug":"giller-prize-says-it-will-be-forced-to-cease-operations-without-federal-funding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/14439\/","title":{"rendered":"Giller Prize says it will be forced to cease operations without federal funding"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

The annual $100,000 award for fiction is in dire financial straits after a decades-long partnership with Scotiabank ended prematurely earlier this year.Chris Young\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

The Giller Prize will be forced to shut down at the end of this year without federal funding, according to the Giller Foundation. <\/p>\n

The annual $100,000 award for fiction, the richest in Canada, is in dire financial straits after its decades-long partnership with Scotiabank ended prematurely<\/a> earlier this year. The Globe and Mail has learned the Giller Foundation is in the process of appealing to the federal government for funds.<\/p>\n

A drafted letter to Ottawa obtained by The Globe states the prize is in \u201curgent need of financial assistance\u201d and that \u201cwithout stable funding, the Giller will be forced to cease operations at the end of 2025.\u201d<\/p>\n

Giller Foundation, lead sponsor Scotiabank end partnership<\/a><\/p>\n

In the letter that has yet to be sent, the Giller Foundation recommends that Ottawa \u201censures the continued discovery and celebration of Canadian authors by securing the survival of the Giller Foundation\/Giller Prize with $5-million in funding over three years, beginning in 2025.\u201d <\/p>\n

The Giller Foundation faced criticism and protests for its association with former lead sponsor Scotiabank, whose subsidiary 1832 Asset Management at one point was the biggest international investor in Elbit Systems Ltd., Israel\u2019s most prominent publicly traded arms company.<\/p>\n

At the nationally televised Giller Prize gala in November, 2023, after the start of the Israel-Hamas war that October, anti-Israel protesters jumped onstage<\/a> carrying signs that read \u201cScotiabank Funds Genocide.\u201d After the disrupted ceremony, Canadian authors<\/a> including past Giller winners Omar El Akkad, David Bergen, Sean Michaels and 2023 recipient Sarah Bernstein, signed an online letter<\/a> in support of the protesters. Those writers did not return their prize money. The letter was posted by CanLit Responds, a group of authors and cultural workers devoted to a literary world free of arms funding. <\/p>\n

From 2024: Scotiabank subsidiary cuts stake in Israeli arms maker Elbit Systems<\/a><\/p>\n

In an e-mail to The Globe, Elana Rabinovitch, executive director of the Giller Foundation, said she did not believe the prize\u2019s past affiliation with Scotiabank has adversely affected the foundation\u2019s current fundraising efforts.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not the only arts organization who is seeking funding in a climate where arts sponsorship is harder to come by,\u201d said the daughter of the prize\u2019s founder, the late businessman and philanthropist Jack Rabinovitch. \u201dI think that all arts organizations, especially small ones like ours, are facing funding challenges<\/a>. We have worked diligently to find corporate, philanthropic and individual donors to support our programs and continue to do so.”<\/p>\n

The Giller Prize (known as the Scotiabank Giller Prize from 2005 to 2023) was established in 1994 to annually recognize the Canadian author of a novel or short story collection published in English. Among the past recipients are Margaret Atwood, M. G. Vassanji, Alice Munro, Mordecai Richler, Michael Ondaatje, Austin Clarke, Andr\u00e9 Alexis, Suzette Mayr and, last year, Anne Michaels for her novel, Held.<\/p>\n

State of the Arts: Canada\u2019s cultural industry is feeling the squeeze<\/a><\/p>\n

The Giller Foundation shared its draft letter with a number of Canadian literary all-stars in a bid to gain their support in petitioning for funding.<\/p>\n

The Giller Prize currently receives no government funding, according to Rabinovitch. The Governor General\u2019s Literary Awards, a competitor in the book-based sweepstakes in Canada, enjoys the support of the public funder, Canada Council for the Arts. The awards recognize 14 books in English and French, with a total annual prize value of $450,000.<\/p>\n

The Giller\u2019s three-year travel-sponsorship deal with the Azrieli Foundation, a philanthropic establishment in Canada and Israel, will be over as of this year. The Giller Foundation is considering the elimination of its famous gala dinner and the national tour of nominated authors in hopes of keeping the prize alive.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnything is possible,\u201d Rabinovitch said. \u201cWe are weighing all options.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: The annual $100,000 award for fiction is in dire financial straits after a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14440,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[223,88,13849],"class_list":{"0":"post-14439","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-books","8":"tag-books","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-pleasemod"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14439","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14439"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14439\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14440"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}