Go to the Canada Council for the Arts site for the full list of winners.

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Patrick deWitt
The Sisters Brothers

Brothers Eli and Charlie Sisters are at the centre of this “great greedy heart” of a book. A rollicking tale of hired guns, faithful horses and alchemy. The ingenious prose of Patrick DeWitt conveys a dark and gentle touch.
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Update November 8:

The 2011 Giller prize was awarded to:

Esi Edugyan
Half-Blood Blues

Of the winning book, the jurors wrote:

"Imagine Mozart were a black German trumpet player and Salieri a bassist, and 18th century Vienna were WWII Paris; that's Esi Edugyan's joyful lament, Half-Blood Blues. It's conventional to liken the prose in novels about jazz to the music itself, as though there could be no higher praise. In this case, say rather that any jazz musician would be happy to play the way Edugyan writes. Her style is deceptively conversational and easy, but with the simultaneous exuberance and discipline of a true prodigy. Put this book next to Louis Armstrong's "West End Blues" – these two works of art belong together."

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The 2011 Scotiabank Giller prize short list

In the following list, click on the book titles and scroll down the library catalogue page to see the book summary. To read the jurors' comments, click the link 2011 Scotia Giller prize short list

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David Bezmozgis
The Free World
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Lynn Coady
The Antagonist
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Patrick deWitt
The Sisters Brothers

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Zsuzsi Gartner
Better Living Through Plastic Explosives

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Michael Ondaatje
The Cat's Table
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The Man Booker Prize for 2011 was awarded to

Julian Barnes for
The Sense Of An Ending

Summary: The story of a man coming to terms with the mutable past, Julian Barnes's new novel is laced with his trademark precision, dexterity and insight. It is the work of one of the world's most distinguished writers.

Tony Webster and his clique first met Adrian Finn at school. Sex-hungry and book-hungry, they navigated the girl drought of gawky adolescence together, trading in affectations, in-jokes, rumour and wit. Maybe Adrian was a little more serious than the others, certainly more intelligent, but they swore to stay friends forever. Until Adrian's life took a turn into tragedy, and all of them, especially Tony, moved on and did their best to forget. Now Tony is in middle age. He's had a career and a marriage, a calm divorce. He gets along nicely, he thinks, with his one child, a daughter, and even with his ex-wife. He's certainly never tried to hurt anybody. Memory, though, is imperfect. It can always throw up surprises, as a lawyer's letter is about to prove. The unexpected bequest conveyed by that letter leads Tony on a dogged search through a past suddenly turned murky. And how do you carry on, contentedly, when events conspire to upset all your vaunted truths? Publisher's description

Click here to see a list of the other books on the short list.