Bearing the name of Canadian literary journalist Doris Giller, this coveted prize was launched in 1994 by her husband, Jack Rabinovitch. Launched after Giller's death from cancer in 1993, her extraordinary life and love of fiction inspired this tribute to Canadian authors at home and abroad.

Currently the largest purse for literature in Canada, The Giller Prize has generated more than $60 million dollars in book sales to date. From Alice Munro to Margaret Atwood, Michael Ondaatje and Mordecai Richler, this prestigious annual prize has inspired the sale of more than 2.5 million books by Giller-nominated authors in its first decade alone.

The Giller Prize has endowed more than $250,000 to Canadian writers across the country. It has also helped put many of its winning authors on the road to international stardom.

All this began thanks to the memory of Montreal-born Giller, who started her career as a secretary with a supermarket chain. Joining the staff of the Montreal Star in 1963 as a reporter and feature writer, Giller eventually became the Book Review Editor at the Montreal Gazette (1981). She later joined the Toronto Star as Assistant Book Editor in 1988, where her regular column, "Reading Habits," became a newspaper staple.

In 2005, The Giller Prize teamed up with Scotiabank to create The Scotiabank Giller Prize. As a result of this first-ever co-sponsorship, the original $25,000 prize was doubled. One winner now receives $50,000 -- Canada's richest literary award for fiction. Four finalists are awarded $5,000.