Rick Mercer to replace Jian Ghomeshi as host of Scotiabank Giller Prize gala

TORONTO – Rick Mercer will replace Jian Ghomeshi as host of this year’s $100,000 Scotiabank Giller Prize gala.

Ghomeshi hosted the past three consecutive Giller galas and was again named as MC this year, but Giller organizers said he would no longer lead the broadcast after CBC announced Sunday it was cutting ties with him.

The 45-year-old Mercer previously appeared at the 2012 Giller gala, and the former “This Hour Has 22 Minutes” star will be joined onstage this year by presenters Kim Coates, Jessica Paré and Naomi Klein.

Authors in the running for the prestigious award include Montreal’s Heather O’Neill for “The Girl Who Was Saturday Night,” Edmonton writer Padma Viswanathan’s “The Ever After of Ashwin Rao” and Toronto’s Miriam Toews for “All My Puny Sorrows,” also shortlisted for the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize.

Also nominated are Montreal’s Sean Michaels for “Us Conductors,” Ottawa native Frances Itani’s “Tell” and David Bezmozgis of Toronto for “The Betrayers.”

The gala will air Nov. 10 on CBC-TV.