Posted by: Michael Schellenberg - Associate Publisher, Knopf Canada

It isn’t everyday that we crack the champagne before noon, but this morning, the Knopf Random Canada (KRC) group had two wonderful reasons to celebrate. Two books had made the Scotiabank Giller Prize shortlist - that’s the Holy Grail of Canadian publishing - and both were edited by Anne Collins, doyenne of Random House Canada. So, KRC’s executive publisher Louise Dennys gave a heartfelt toast for Annabel Lyon’s wonderful novel The Golden Mean - check out that cover, kids - and the brilliant The Bishop’s Man by Linden MacIntyre.

It all started in a room at the glamourous Four Seasons, where the assembled group of nervous editors and publishers quaffed orange juice squeezed from real oranges and fair-trade coffee. Then, Jack Rabinovich took the podium to introduce the jurors.

This very generous man sponsors the award in memory of his late wife Doris. This year, the jury was comprised of the elegant Victoria Glendinning from England,

the handsome Russell Banks from the US, and Alistair Macleod, who couldn’t be there. And then Victoria started to read the nominees - this is always an interesting exercise, because the names are read alphabetically, and everybody in the room began to clock which books had been left off as the list was announced. When Kim Echlin’s wonderful novel The Disappeared (published by Penguin Books) was announced as the first nominee, people were shocked to realize that Margaret Atwood’s splendid The Year of the Flood hadn’t made the shortlist… As well as Annabel and Linden and Echlin’s books, also shortlisted were Colin McAdam’s Fall and Anne Michael’s The Winter Vault.

Well, back to work - hoping to find the Giller nominees of years to come - and then to turn our attention to the announcement of the Man Booker Prize this evening in London. KRC has two books on the shortlist….