The Scotiabank Giller Prize jury has unveiled its longlist of nominees for the award, which honours the year?s best Canadian work in fiction.

The 2007 longlist of 15 nominees includes former winners Michael Ondaatje, Richard Wright and M.G. Vassanji.

This year’s jury, consisting of former Giller winner David Bergen, author Camilla Gibb and author, poet and artist Lorna Goodison, produced the longlist from a record 108 books submitted by 46 publishers.

The jury had high praise for the list, which they said offered “penetrating insights into the human condition through strong narrative, depth of character and moral vision.”

The Giller Prize was set up in 1994 by businessman Jack Rabinovitch in memory of his late wife, editor and literary journalist Doris Giller. It is worth $40,000 and is considered one of the most prestigious awards in Canadian literature.

The longlist will be whittled down to a shortlist of five books, to be announced Oct. 9. The winner will be honoured at a gala in Toronto on Nov. 6.

Last year?s winner was Toronto doctor Vincent Lam for ?Bloodletting & Miraculous Cures.?

Here is the 2007 Giller Prize longlist:
David Chariandy, ?Soucouyant?
Sharon English, ?Zero Gravity?
Barbara Gowdy, ?Helpless?
Elizabeth Hay, ?Late Nights on Air?
Lawrence Hill, ?The Book of Negroes?
Paulette Jiles, ?Stormy Weather?
D.R. MacDonald, ?Lauchlin of the Bad Heart?
Claire Mulligan, ?The Reckoning of Boston Jim?
Mary Novik, ?Conceit?
Michael Ondaatje, ?Divisadero?
Daniel Poliquin, ?A Secret Between Us?
M.G. Vassanji, ?The Assassin’s Song?
Michael Winter, ?The Architects Are Here?
Richard Wright, ?October?
Alissa York, ?Effigy?






Related Stories: