Ian Williams to chair 2023 Scotiabank Giller Prize jury

Ian Williams will chair the 2023 Scotiabank Giller Prize jury.

The $100,000 prize is the biggest in Canadian literature.

Williams is awriter and teacher from Brampton, Ont. Hewon the Giller Prize in 2019 for his novel Reproduction. Hisother books include thepoetry collectionPersonals,theshort fiction collectionNot Anyone's Anything and the essay collectionDisorientation. He is currently a professor at the University of Toronto.

• Ian Williams explores race, class and identity in hisnovelReproduction

Joining Williams on the jury are Canadian writers Sharon Bala and Brian Thomas Isaac and American author Rebecca Makkai and Indian writerNeel Mukherjee.

Bala is a writer from Newfoundland. She is the author of the novel The Boat People, which won the Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction and the Newfoundland & Labrador Book Award. The Boat People was also championed by singer and TV hostMozhdah Jamalzadah on Canada Reads 2018.

• Sharon Bala wrote about a refugee trying to make Canada their home

Isaac was born on the Okanagan Indian Reserve, in south central B.C. He's worked in oil fields, as a bricklayer, and he had a short career riding bulls in local rodeos. As a lover of sports, he has coached minor hockey.All the Quiet Placesis his first book.

• This 71-year-old writer's coming-of-age novel is a debut like no other

All the Quiet Placeswas ontheCanada Reads2022 longlistandthe2022 Scotiabank Giller Prize longlistand wasa finalist forthe 2022 Governor General's Literary Award for fiction.

Makkai is the author of the novels The Great Believers, The Hundred-Year House and The Borrower. The Great Believers was a finalistforthe Pulitzer Prize and the U.S. National Book Award. Makkai lives in Chicago, where she teaches atNorthwestern University and is the artistic director of the nonprofit writing organization StoryStudio Chicago.

Mukherjee is the author of the novels A Life Apart, The Lives of Others andPast Continuous.The Lives of Others was a finalist for the Booker Prize and the Costa Best Novel Award.

2023 will mark the 30th anniversary of the Giller Prize.

Books published betweenOct.1, 2022 and Sept.30, 2023will be eligible for the 2023 prize. The longlist, shortlist and winner will be announced in the fall.

Jack Rabinovitch founded the prize in honour of his late wife Doris Giller in 1994. Rabinovitchdied in 2017 at the age of 87.

The 2022 winner was Calgary writer Suzette Mayr for her novelThe Sleeping Car Porter.

Other past Giller Prize winners include Omar El Akkad forWhat Strange Paradise, Souvankham Thammavongsa forHow to Pronounce Knife,Esi EdugyanforWashington BlackandHalf-Blood Blues,Margaret AtwoodforAlias Grace, Ian Williams forReproductionandAlice MunroforRunaway.

The Giller Prize is currently hosting a monthly virtual book club featuring the 2022 longlisted writers.