Edugyan, deWitt contemplate “an embarrassment of riches”
Man Booker contenders Patrick DeWitt and Esi Edugyan are taking their nominations for the Governor General’s Literary Awards’ fiction prize in their stride as they prepare to head off to London for a week of pre-Booker celebrations.
But the young Canadian novelists both confess their admission into Canada’s most prestigious literary race, announced Tuesday, is particularly rewarding.
“It’s a new world for me, exciting and intimidating,” said DeWitt, 36, from his home in Portland, Ore.
The Vancouver Island-born writer’s second novel, the Gold Rush-era comic Western, The Sisters Brothers,sacs louis vuitton is now up for no fewer than four major literary honours — the Man Booker, The GGLA, the Scotiabank Giller Prize and the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize.
“I spent so much time with the book that I have no idea of its worth. But when it gets such wide acceptance, I can’t help but feel affection for it.
“It’s wild, especially since my first book (Ablutions, 2009) wasn’t even published in Canada. I’m so happy my second novel has been so well received there.”
Calgary-born, Victoria-based Edugyan, 33, is also in the running for the same four awards for her novel Half-Blood Blues, about a black jazz musician in Nazi Germany who disappears at the outbreak of World War II.
“This (the GGLA nomination) is something I never expected, even after being short-listed for the Man Booker,” Edugyan told the Star Tuesday from her home.
“It’s an embarrassment of riches, particularly given what the book went through to get published.”
The novel, her second, was originally picked up Key Porter Books in Canada, but was set aside when the company folded in October 2010. Half-Blood Blues eventually found a new home with Thomas Allen.
Edugyan isn’t fazed by the pressure and scrutiny that she expects will accompany the four major nominations, particularly when she hits London’s literary hot spots at the end of the week for back-to-back Booker run-up events.
“It doesn’t bother me at all,” said the mother of a baby girl, born in August. “I will keep writing what I want to write, and take my time doing it.
“And I’m looking forward to meeting other writers. Out here we’re so divorced from the world. It will be nice to dip into it for a while, and then leave.”
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