David Bergen has been named the 2005 winner of The Scotiabank Giller Prize, Canada’s premier literary prize for fiction, for his novel The Time In Between, published by McClelland & Stewart. The announcement was made at a gala dinner and award ceremony that drew more than 450 members of the publishing, media and arts communities. Hosted by Seamus O’Regan.

The largest annual prize for fiction in the country, The Scotiabank Giller Prize awards $40,000 each year to the author of the best Canadian novel or short story collection published in English and $2,500 to each of the finalists. A shortlist of five authors and their books was announced on September 28, 2005. Those finalists were:

• Joan Barfoot for her novel Luck, published by Knopf Canada
• David Bergen for his novel The Time In Between, published by McClelland & Stewart
• Camilla Gibb for her novel Sweetness in the Belly, published by Doubleday Canada
• Lisa Moore for her novel Alligator, published by House of Anansi Press
• Edeet Ravel for her novel A Wall of Light, published by Random House Canada

Selected by a distinguished jury panel comprised of writers Warren Cariou, Elizabeth Hay and Richard B. Wright, the finalists were chosen from 94 eligible books from all regions of the country.

Of the winning book, the jury remarked: “The Time in Between explores our need to understand the relationship between love and duty. Nearly thirty years after the end of the Vietnam War, Charles Boatman, a former soldier, travels from British Columbia to Danang in an attempt to come to terms with an incident from the war that continues to haunt him. When he vanishes, his son and daughter embark on their own journey to find him, and both are soon drawn into the complex and enigmatic culture of contemporary Vietnam. This is a subtle and elegantly written novel by an author in complete command of his talent.”

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