16 Nov 2010 02:18:26
Now living in Montreal, Skibsrud was the first debut novelist to capture the prestigious literary prize since 1999, beating out 97 competitors.
Set in a small lakeside town in Ontario, the book describes a daughter's relationship with her father who is haunted by events during his tour of duty in Vietnam and is now slipping away in a "descending fog of senility," the jury said in a statement.
It "charts the painful search by a dutiful daughter to learn -- and more importantly, to learn to understand -- the multi-layered truth which lies at the moral core of her dying father's life."
The Giller Prize was founded in 1994 by a Toronto businessman in honor of his late wife, literary journalist Doris Giller. It comes with a 50,000-dollar cash award financed by Scotiabank.
Set in a small lakeside town in Ontario, the book describes a daughter's relationship with her father who is haunted by events during his tour of duty in Vietnam and is now slipping away in a "descending fog of senility," the jury said in a statement.
It "charts the painful search by a dutiful daughter to learn -- and more importantly, to learn to understand -- the multi-layered truth which lies at the moral core of her dying father's life."
The Giller Prize was founded in 1994 by a Toronto businessman in honor of his late wife, literary journalist Doris Giller. It comes with a 50,000-dollar cash award financed by Scotiabank.