B.C. National Award for Canadian Non-Fiction
2009 Shortlist for Canada’s Largest Literary Non-Fiction Prize
Dec 12, 2008
British Columbia's National Award for Canadian Non-Fiction shortlist was announced on December 10. The prestigious award, now in its fifth year, celebrates Canada’s finest literary non-fiction writers. The award presentation takes place on February 2, 2009 and will announce the winner of the $40,000 prize.
The Finalists
The four finalists are Mary Henley Rubio for Lucy Maud Montgomery: The Gift of Wings; Christopher Shulgan for The Soviet Ambassador: The Making of the Radical Behind Perestroika; Daphne Bramham for The Secret Lives of Saints: Child Brides and Lost Boys in Canada's Polygamous Mormon Sect; and Russell Wangersky for Burning Down the House: Fighting Fires and Losing Myself.
Mary Henley Rubio’s Lucy Maud Montgomery: The Gift of Wings is a portrait of one of Canada's most successful authors. It is an account of Lucy Maud Montgomery's life as a celebrity, dutiful wife of a chronically depressed clergyman and as a caring mother.
Christopher Shulgan’s The Soviet Ambassador: The Making of the Radical Behind Perestroika chronicles the life of "the godfather of glasnost," former Communist Aleksandr Yakolev. Yakolev was the Soviet Union's ambassador in Canada during the 1970s and early 1980s and a close friend of Pierre Trudeau.
Daphne Bramham’s The Secret Lives of Saints: Child Brides and Lost Boys in Canada's Polygamous Mormon Sect is an investigation into the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints community in Bountiful, B.C.
Russell Wangersky’s Burning Down the House: Fighting Fires and Losing Myself is a depiction of modern-day fire-fighting. It is an account of Wangersky's eight years as a volunteer firefighter responding to emergency calls.
The Jury
To choose the four qualified contenders, an independent jury panel looked at 163 nominated titles. All entries had to be first print editions published in Canada in English between November 1, 2007 and October 31, 2008. The jury consisted of John Cruickshank, the jury chair, publisher of CBC News and newly appointed Toronto Star publisher; Stevie Cameron, investigative journalist and author; and Andreas Schroeder, author, TV and radio host, and academic.
About the Award
The British Columbia Award for Canadian Non-Fiction is the only national book prize to originate in BC and spotlights a genre that is significant to all Canadians. It is presented by the British Columbia Achievement Foundation, an independent group established to celebrate excellence and achievement in the arts, humanities and community service through national and provincial awards. The Foundation began in an effort to showcase and celebrate the best writers in B.C. and inspire young people.
The British Columbia Award for Canadian Non-Fiction recognizes Canada's finest writers of literary non-fiction. It is said to be the non-fiction counterpart to other major awards such as the Giller Prize for fiction and the Griffin Poetry Prize.
Past Winners
Previous winners for the British Columbia Award for Canadian Non-Fiction include:
Lorna Goodison for From Harvey River (2008)
Noah Richler for This Is My Country, What's Yours? (2007)
Rebecca Godfrey for Under the Bridge (2006)
Patrick Lane for There Is a Season (2005)
