Vassanji wins Canada’s top literary prize

At a glitzy, gala ceremony attended by Canada’s literati, Kenyan-born former physicist M.G. Vassanji was awarded this year’s Giller Prize, Canada’s most glamorous and lucrative literary award. Vassanji took home the 25,000 Canadian dollars prize for his novel, The In-Between World of Vikram Lall. The author won the inaugural Giller Prize in 1994 for his novel, The Book of Secrets.

The author expressed his surprise at winning the prize a second time.

Vassanji beat Canadian literary icon Margaret Atwood, who was shortlisted for her novel, Oryx and Crake. Toronto businessman Jack Rabinovitch established the award in 1994 in honour of his late wife, literary journalist Doris Giller. (Reuters)