Hilary and Galen Weston Foundation gives $4 million to Giller Prize

TORONTO — The Giller Prize, Canada’s largest literary award for fiction, has found a new benefactor in the Hilary and Galen Weston Foundation.

The Giller Foundation announced Monday that the Hilary and Galen Weston Foundation would give $4 million to the prize in a “multi-year gift,” in addition to $1 million the Weston family quietly contributed a year ago, when the award was in dire financial straits.

“There was a very real possibility that if we didn’t receive new funding we would have (had) to completely shut down operations, so this is the gift that is enabling us to stay afloat,” said Elana Rabinovitch, executive director of the Giller Foundation.

The annual $100,000 prize goes to the book deemed the best work of fiction by a Canadian author published in English.

The initial million-dollar gift, which a spokesperson said was not previously announced, came after the Giller parted ways with its former title sponsor Scotiabank.

Hundreds of book workers — including some past winners — boycotted the Giller starting in 2023 over the bank’s sponsorship of the prize.

They took issue with a Scotiabank subsidiary that had invested hundreds of millions of dollars in Elbit Systems, an Israeli arms manufacturer. The subsidiary has since divested from the arms company.

The year after the initial protests, the Giller dropped Scotiabank from its name, and the partnership ended in February 2025.

The Giller boycott was lifted this April, after the group, called CanLit Responds, said it was satisfied that the prize was no longer connected to any of the sponsors it took issue with.

“Over the past couple of years, we have heard the voices in the literary community and we’ve listened very closely to what was being said,” Rabinovitch said Monday.

That includes creating a new advisory council called the Giller Prize Writers’ Circle, who Rabinovitch said would “help us find the most impactful ways to support the literary community in ways that are inclusive, respectful and impactful.”

The council’s members include Eric Dupont, Charlotte Gray, Ann-Marie MacDonald, William Ping, Tanya Talaga and Kai Thomas. Rabinovitch said their first meeting is scheduled for September.

The Giller website now lists among its sponsors and partners the Mantella Corporation, a real estate development and investment company, the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, CBC Books and the San Miguel Writers’ Conference.

The Hilary and Galen Weston Foundation said it’s supporting the Giller in honour of Hilary M. Weston, who was a lifelong supporter of Canadian literature.

“As both an author and a champion of the literary arts, our mother understood the power of storytelling to expand our thinking and help us make sense of the world around us,” Alannah Weston said in a written statement.

“This gift reflects her enduring commitment to literature and Canadian voices, and to ensuring they are supported, celebrated and widely shared for years to come.”

The foundation also supports the Writers’ Trust of Canada awards through the Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction and Hilary Weston International Award.

The former awards $75,000 to a Canadian author of a non-fiction book, while the latter gives $75,000 to honour a non-Canadian author’s body of non-fiction work.

This year’s Giller Prize long list is expected to be announced Sept. 8, and the award will be handed out Nov. 16.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 10, 2026.