Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize
Winner: $25,000; Finalists: $2,500
Sponsored by
Patrick deWitt
The Sisters Brothers
House of Anansi Press
Jury Citation
Patrick deWitt’s joyous and genre-bending, The Sisters Brothers moves along at such a rampant pace it’s easy to lose sight of what a truly original novel it is. His exploration of the blurred lines between good and evil is masterful and mesmerizing. This is the sort of material that, in lesser hands, could easily have sunk into middling farce, but deWitt’s portrayal of the homicidal brothers and the quixotic roster of characters thrown in their path is fresh, moving, insightful, and always funny. Cinematic in its scope, meditative in its tone and brilliantly inventive in its characterization, The Sisters Brothers is a book unlike any you may read during this or the coming years. Unforgettable.
About the Book
Two brothers, Eli and Charlie Sisters, are notorious professional killers hired to kill a man named Hermann Kermit Warm. In seeking to complete their contract they travel from Oregon to California and experience a series of unsettling and violent encounters in nineteenth-century Gold Rush America. Charlie is the ruthless brother, intent on making money and killing anyone who stands in the way; Eli is a reluctant assassin, doubting his vocation and prone to falling in love. A tribute to the classic Western, The Sisters Brothers is an inventive and darkly comic novel exploring the perversity of human motivation.
About the Author
Patrick deWitt was born on Vancouver Island in 1975 and presently lives in Portland, Oregon. His previous novel, Ablutions, was named a New York Times Editors’ Choice book. The Sisters Brothers is a finalist for this year’s Man Booker Prize and has been longlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize.
Video Profile
Click on the covers below to learn more information about the four prize finalists.
Clark Blaise | The Meagre Tarmac
Published by Biblioasis
Michael Christie |
The Beggar's Garden
Published by HarperCollins Publishers
Esi Edugyan | Half-Blood Blues
Published by Thomas Allen Publishers
Dan Vyleta | The Quiet Twin
Published by HarperCollins Publishers
The prize was awarded in Toronto at the Isabel Bader Theatre during the Writers’ Trust Awards event on November 1.
Finalists were selected by a three-member jury composed of Emma Donoghue, a past winner of this prize; Rabindranath Maharaj, a past finalist of this prize; and Margaret Sweatman, also a past winner of this prize.
About the Prize
The Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize recognizes Canadian writers of exceptional talent for the year's best novel or short-story collection. The winner, selected by a three-member, independent judging panel, is announced at the Writers’ Trust Awards event.
About the Sponsor
Rogers Communications is a leading provider of Wireless, Cable TV, High Speed Internet and Home Phone services to consumer residences and businesses in Canada. They have generously sponsored this award since it was created in 1997.