Islanders to serve on jury for Canada’s most prestigious book prize

Lori Cheverie has received her fair share of teasing for always having her nose in a book — but for the next few months, that habit will serve a greater purpose, one that goes beyond the love of reading. 

Cheverie, who manages the Bookmark in Charlottetown, P.E.I., is on the jury for Canada's biggest literary honour — the Giller Prize — alongside the bookstore's owner, Dan MacDonald.

“We said, ‘Yeah, we need to do this,’ just because we feel it's important to the book ecosystem,” said MacDonald, who has owned the Bookmark stores in Charlottetown and Halifax, N.S., since 2014. He added a third location in Fredericton, N.B., in 2023.

He and Cheverie will represent the Maritimes on the Giller Prize jury.

The award is handed out annually to the author of the best fiction novel, graphic novel or short story collection in Canada, and comes with a $100,000 prize.

It has been a source of controversy over the past two years, especially regarding its funding sources. Scotiabank was the lead sponsor of the prize for two decades, but the Giller Foundation parted ways with the bank last year after members of the literary community protested Scotiabank’s ties to an Israeli arms manufacturer. 

Now, as it continues its search for new sponsors, the Giller Prize is shaking up its jury: this year will be the first time it's made up entirely of independent Canadian booksellers. Normally, it’s made up primarily of authors. 

“Independent bookstores have been champions of Canadian literature for a long time,” MacDonald said. “If you look at our overall market share in the Canadian book world ... we punch above our weight. We sell a disproportionate amount of Canadian-authored books….

“This is just an extension of that.” 

MacDonald and Cheverie are two of seven booksellers from five stores across the country who make up the jury, each representing different regions of Canada.

Giller Prize executive Elana Rabinovitch said in a statement that these booksellers “will ensure a pan-Canadian, 'people’s choice' sensibility in determining this year’s best works of Canadian fiction.”

The 2026 Giller Prize longlist will be announced in mid-September. Between now and then, MacDonald and Cheverie both expect they'll be doing a lot more reading than usual as they help whittle down the choices for that list.

Cheverie said they’ve been told they could have around 150 books to go through.

“It seems like September … is a long time away," she said. "But we haven't even gotten our first set of books yet. So we have a short window to read that many books.”