Toronto Anglican wins prestigious Giller Prize.Vincent Lam Vincent Lam (born September 5 1974) is a Canadian writer and medical doctor. Born in London, Ontario and raised in Ottawa, his parents came to Canada from the Chinese expatriate community in Vietnam. He attended St. , an active Anglican from Toronto, has won the prestigious 2006 Scotiabank Giller Prize The Scotiabank Giller Prize is an award that goes to the author of a Canadian novel or short story fiction collection published in English (including translation) deemed by a jury to be the best published in the previous year. for excellence in English-language Canadian fiction. Mr. Lam, a parishioner of St. Stephen-in-the-Fields, received a $40,000 prize and a bronze statue for Bloodletting bloodletting, also called bleeding, practice of drawing blood from the body in the treatment of disease. General bloodletting consists of the abstraction of blood by incision into an artery (arteriotomy) or vein (venesection, or phlebotomy). and Miraculous mi·rac·u·lous adj. 1. Of the nature of a miracle; preternatural. 2. So astounding as to suggest a miracle; phenomenal: a miraculous recovery; a miraculous escape. 3. Cures, his debut collection of short stories about four medical school graduates. The son of Chinese immigrants from Vietnam, Mr. Lam, is himself an emergency room physician and writer. "Luck is not what it seems and most of it falls into the category of divine blessing or people who have been kind to you," said Mr. Lam in his acceptance speech. Mr. Lam recently published a poignant article about St. Stephen-in-the-Fields, one of Toronto's oldest Anglican churches, which has been threatened with closure by the diocese of Toronto because of its financial problems. "We worship because we desire a connection with the sacred. We seek an earthly earth·ly adj. 1. Of, relating to, or characteristic of this earth. 2. a. Terrestrial; not heavenly or divine: earthly existence. b. place to act as a conduit, hoping it will both draw us toward itself and shield us from some of the compromises of the rest of the world," he wrote in the Toronto Star The Toronto Star is Canada's highest-circulation newspaper, though its print edition is distributed almost entirely within Ontario. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Ltd., a division of Star Media Group, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation. in September. "I realize I've always looked for a church in the fields. St. Stephen, once on the rural fringes of a colonial town, is now in the centre of a swirling metropolis. Yet, it stands in the fields of my inner landscape, where I've always wanted a church to be. In this mental geography, it remains intact despite changes of season, weather and politics." |
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