Author Anne Michaels won the Giller Prize for her novel Held

Anne Michaels won the Giller Prize for her novel Helda multigenerational study of war and trauma.

The jury of Giller described the novel as a powerful and hypnotic exploration of mortality, resilience and desire. Held moves through time following a photographer turned soldier of the First World War, his descendants, their wives and their parents.

Anne Michaels called for the unit between all artsduring his speech at the Toronto ceremony which took place in the shadow of anti-war protests organized by other members of the literary community.

Outside the luxurious hotel Park Hyattprotesters renewed their demands for the Giller Foundation to cut ties with several corporate sponsors, including Scotiabank over its stake in Israeli arms manufacturer Elbit Systems.

Inside, the gala proceeded without any interruption after last year’s ceremony was besieged by pro-Palestinian protesters.

In September, the award dropped the Scotiabank name, although the institution funds it.

Quebec writer Éric Chacour was one of five finalists for the literary prize for the English version of his first novel, What I know about you. Mr. Chacour won the 70th French Booksellers Prize for this book in May.