Previous Scotiabank Giller Prize winners Margaret Atwood and André Alexis, who both appeared on the award’s longlist, won’t compete for the $100,000 purse.

Still, four of the authors on the 2019 shortlist, announced Sept. 30, have had a brush with Giller before: David Bezmozgis, Michael Crummey, Alix Ohlin, and Steven Price have been long- or shortlisted in previous years. The remaining two authors on the six-title shortlist are recognized for their debut novels: Megan Gail Coles for Small Game Hunting at the Local Coward Gun Club (House of Anansi Press) and Ian Williams for Reproduction (Random House Canada). Ohlin and Crummey share the additional honour of also appearing on the shortlist for the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize.

Penguin Random House Canada’s imprints published the shortlisted books by Crummey, Price, and Williams while fellow multinational HarperCollins published Bezmozgis. The only independent press to be included was Anansi, which was rewarded with shortlisted books by Coles and Ohlin.

The 2019 Giller is juried by co-chairs Donna Bailey Nurse and Randy Boyagoda alongside José Teodoro, Aminatta Forna, and Aleksandar Hemon. The Giller will be presented in Toronto on Nov. 18 in a ceremony to be hosted by Jann Arden that will be televised live on CBC.

The full shortlist follows:

• David Bezmozgis, Immigrant City (HarperCollins)
• Megan Gail Coles, Small Game Hunting at the Local Coward Gun Club (House of Anansi Press)
• Michael Crummey, The Innocents (Doubleday Canada)
• Alix Ohlin, Dual Citizens (Anansi)
• Steven Price, Lampedusa (M&S)
• Ian Williams, Reproduction (Random House Canada)