OTTAWA, Sept 4 — Canadian author Margaret Atwood, who penned the novels that inspired the hit television series Alias Grace and The Handmaid’s Tale, is among 12 writers listed yesterday for Canada’s top literary award for fiction.

Created in 1994, the Giller Prize recognises excellence in Canadian fiction. The award has been backed by Canadian bank Scotiabank since 2005, with the top winner earning C$100,000 (RM317,478). Atwood, who won the honour in 1996 for her novel Alias Grace, is competing with her new work The Testaments, which is set to be released by McClelland & Stewart on September 10.

The Testaments is the sequel to Atwood’s famous 1985 dystopian novel The Handmaid’s Tale. The upcoming novel was also short-listed this week for the Booker Prize for fiction.

Also among those up for the Giller Prize is Toronto-based author Andre Alexis for Days by Moonlight, published by Coach House Books. Alexis won the Giller Prize in 2015 for his novel Fifteen Dogs.

The prize’s short-list of five authors will be released on September 30, with the winner revealed at a Toronto gala on November 18.

The complete long-list, which a jury narrowed down from 117 submissions, is as follows:

Andre Alexis - Days of Moonlight, published by Coach House Books

Margaret Atwood - The Testaments, published by McClelland & Stewart

David Bezmozgis - Immigrant City, published by HarperCollins Publishers Ltd

Michael Christie - Greenwood, published by McClelland & Stewart

Megan Gail Coles - Small Game Hunting at the Local Coward Gun Club, published by House of Anansi Press

Michael Crummey - The Innocents, published by Doubleday Canada

Adam Foulds - Dream Sequence, published by Biblioasis

KD Miller - Late Breaking, published by Biblioasis

Alix Ohlin - Dual Citizens, published by House of Anansi Press

Steven Price - Lampedusa, published by McClelland & Stewart

Zalika Reid-Benta - Frying Plantain, published by Astoria, an imprint of House of Anansi Press

Ian Williams - Reproduction, published by Random House Canada — Reuters