The longlist for the 2017 RBC Taylor Prize‚ recognizing exceptional works of Canadian literary non-fiction‚ has been announced. Some familiar faces this year: 2016 Writers’ Trust Hilary Weston Prize for Non-fiction finalists Matti Friedman and Ross King appear on the 12-author list alongside fellow 2017 B.C. National Award for Canadian Non-fiction nominees Diane Schoemperlen and Alexandra Shimo.
The finalists were selected from 101 submissions read by jurors John English, Ann MacMillan, and Colin McAdam:
- Roméo Dallaire with Jessica Dee Humphreys‚ Waiting for First Light: My Ongoing Battle with PTSD (Random House Canada)
- Max Eisen‚ By Chance Alone: A Remarkable True Story of Courage and Survival at Auschwitz (HarperCollins)
- Matti Friedman‚ Pumpkinflowers: A Soldier’s Story of a Forgotten War (Algonquin Books)
- Norman Hallendy‚ An Intimate Wilderness: Arctic Voices in a Land of Vast Horizons (Greystone Books)
- Ross King‚ Mad Enchantment: Claude Monet and the Painting of the Water Lilies (Bond Street Books)
- Mark Leiren-Young‚ The Killer Whale Who Changed the World (Greystone)
- Marc Raboy‚ Marconi: The Man Who Networked the World (Oxford University Press)
- Dan Robson‚ Quinn: The Life of a Hockey Legend (Viking Canada)
- Kenneth Sherman‚ Wait Time: A Memoir of Cancer (Wilfrid Laurier University Press)
- Diane Schoemperlen‚ This is Not My Life: A Memoir of Love, Prison, and Other Complications (Harper Avenue)
- Alexandra Shimo‚ Invisible North: The Search for Answers on a Troubled Reserve (Dundurn)
- Bill Waiser‚ A World We Have Lost: Saskatchewan Before 1905 (Fifth House Books)
The shortlist will be revealed on Jan. 11. The winner‚ who receives a $25,000 purse, will be announced at a gala luncheon on March. 6.