Scotiabank Giller Prize: English-speaking World

Esi Edugyan Dept: The 34-year-old was writing one of the year's great Canadian novels: Half-Blood Blues. The only clue as to her mission: the faint, tinny tinkle of music wafting from her, according to Vancouver Sun. Half-Blood Blues would be shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, the English-speaking world's most prestigious literary award. The novel - a bold and original exploration of black jazz musicians in Hitler's Germany - later won the 2011 Scotiabank Giller Prize. The Giller is Canada's biggest literary honour. And, coming with a $50,000 prize, it is also the richest and a striking woman with curly black hair, Esi Edugyan would tap quietly on her laptop. No one sipping cappuccino at Mirage Coffee on Blanshard Street or Caff Artigiano on Government Street - two favoured haunts - could have guessed her task. "Writing this book, I'd just go out into the craziness, stick on some headphones and listen to some jazz and type away," Edugyan said, smiling. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.