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The Giller prize, a prestigious Canadian literary award, has cut ties with a controversial sponsor after more than a year of pushback from the literary community.
The prize, which awards C$100,000 (£56,000) to its winner and C$10,000 to shortlisted authors each year, announced the end of its 20-year sponsorship by Scotiabank on Monday, and said it is exploring “new opportunities and collaborations”.
Protesters twice interrupted the Giller prize ceremony in November 2023 over the bank, which at that point was the largest international investor in Israeli arms manufacturer Elbit Systems via its subsidiary 1832 Asset Management. The subsidiary has since reduced its stake.
More than 1,800 writers, including 2023 winner Sarah Bernstein, signed an open letter in support of the protesters. In July 2024, more than 30 authors who would have been eligible for the prize withdrew their work from consideration. In September, the prize – which had been called the Scotiabank Giller prize – dropped the bank from its name.
In November, 2024 winner Anne Michaels was criticised for accepting the prize, and for her winner’s speech, which did not mention Palestine or the protests.
In Monday’s statement, the Giller Foundation said it was grateful for Scotiabank’s “unwavering support and dedication to Canadian literature”. The foundation’s executive director, Elana Rabinovitch, told the Globe and Mail that “following discussions, Scotiabank and the Giller Foundation agreed that the best path forward was an early end to the partnership”, but did not give reasons for the termination. The most recent contract was set to expire after the 2025 prize.
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In November, Rabinovitch told the Guardian that she was not worried about the prize’s future. “The Giller has strong community support and we will get through these challenges.”
In a statement, campaign group CanLit Responds said that the foundation’s handling of protests “will remain a permanent stain” on the prize’s legacy, and that the Giller boycott would continue “so long as the Giller retains the Azrieli Foundation and Indigo Books as sponsors, two entities also financing the ongoing oppression of Palestinians and silencing free expression in Canada. One down, two to go.”
Protests against Canadian bookstore chain Indigo have been motivated by its CEO Heather Reisman’s ties to the Heseg Foundation for Lone Soldiers. The charity, which Reisman co-founded in 2005 with her husband, awards scholarships to former IDF members who don’t have family in Israel.
The Azrieli Foundation is the charitable arm of the Azrieli Group, Israel’s largest publicly traded real estate company which has holdings in Bank Leumi. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has listed Bank Leumi as operating in Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories.
