Aging Ink

The 2009 Giller Prize was announced in Toronto last night — this year’s winner is CBC Fifth Estate journalist Linden MacIntyre.

Set in a tight-knit fishing community on the western shore of Cape Breton Island, The Bishop’s Man is told from the perspective of a conflicted priest whose role in the church is to cover up instances of sexual abuse. The book draws on the same milieu and many of the same characters that populated MacIntyre’s previous novel, The Long Stretch, published in 1999. (via Quill & Quire)

The 2007 award went to CBC host Elizabeth Hay, who beat out Michael Ondaatje and M.G. Vassanji that year. I guess hanging around the CBC is good for your future Giller prospects. I’ve been making a habit the past few of years of making a point of reading the winner or at least something from the shortlist each year, so now I’ll have another title to add to my to-read list.