Michael Ondaatje Number One Giller and GG Fiction Finalist This Week
TORONTO October 26, 2007 - Divisadero, the newest novel from Michael Ondaatje, has outpaced M.J. Vassanji’s The Assassin’s Song to become the sales leader in both the Scotiabank Giller finalists and the Governor-General Fiction award finalists this week.
Divisadero’s sales increased by 83% after the Giller shortlist was announced and have increased again by almost 10% since the GG Fiction shortlist was revealed last week. The average increase for all five GG fiction finalists was 84% this week, with the relative rankings for both prizes as follows:
Governor-General Award for Fiction
- Divisadero – Michael Ondaatje
- Lullabies for Little Criminals – Heather O’Neill
- The Assassin’s Song – M.J. Vassanji
- Soucouyant – David Chariandy
- Helpless – Barbara Gowdy
Scotiabank Giller Award
- Divisadero (number two last week) – Michael Ondaatje
- Late Nights on Air (number three last week) – Elizabeth Hay
- The Assassin’s Song (number one last week) – M.J. Vassanji
- A Secret Between Us (number four last week) – Daniel Poliquin
- Effigy (number five last week) – Alyssa York
All statistics are drawn from sales tracked in the week ending Sunday, October 21, 2007 by BNC SalesData, Canada’s national book sales tracking service. The Governor-Generals Literary Awards shortlists were released on Tuesday, October 16, 2007 by The Canada Council for the Arts. The winner will be announced on Tuesday, November 27, 2007.
For more award analysis and information on BookNet Canada and BNC SalesData, visit BookNet Canada’s website at www.booknetcanada.ca.
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About BookNet Canada
BookNet Canada is the not-for-profit agency created by the Canadian book industry and the Department of Canadian Heritage to facilitate improvements in the book industry supply chain. It provides services and develops standards and certification in areas including electronic commerce via EDI (Electronic Document Interchange), bibliographic data, and analysis of point-of-sales and other supply chain data. BookNet acknowledges the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program (BPIDP) for its initiatives.
