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Frontlist | Giller Foundation book club event disrupted by 'hackers'

Frontlist | Giller Foundation book club event disrupted by 'hackers'
on Jan 06, 2021

The Giller Foundation’s first book club event was cut short after ‘hackers’ disrupted the virtual interview, according to the foundation. The Giller Foundation was scheduled to host its first virtual book club event on Monday evening featuring 2020 Scotiabank Giller Prize winner Souvankham Thammavongsa being interviewed by 2016 winner Madeleine Thien over the video conferencing app Zoom. Daphna Rabinovitch, spokesperson for the Giller Prize, told media that the event had to be postponed after hackers interfered with the proceedings.

“We feel, needless to say, horrible about what transpired,” Rabinovitch wrote in the email. “We were intent on making this event available to the greatest number of people as possible and so made it public. Despite our best attempts, some hackers disrupted the event, posting inappropriate images, forcing us to shut down. I’m told that, unfortunately, this can happen to events featuring writers of colour. All the more reason to push back.” Thammavongsa, a Thai-Canadian, won the 2020 Giller Prize with her book entitled “How to Pronounce Knife,” a collection of stories about immigrants struggling to make a living. Rabinovitch said the event is being rescheduled for next week with “better security protocols.” More details are still to come.

Source: CTV News