The shortlist for the 21^st annual Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-Fiction has been revealed. The $10,000 prize, administered by Wilfrid Laurier University, recognizes a first or second published work of creative non-fiction by a Canadian author that has a Canadian setting or significance.

The award was established in 1991 by literary journalist Edna Staebler to encourage Canadian talent.

Creative non-fiction ¦ is becoming a very popular genre. The jurors worked extremely hard, and in the end had to make a tough decision, says award juror and Laurier professor Ute Lischke in a press release. She adds this year’s submissions were extremely rich and varied.

The shortlist for 2011 is as follows:

• Joshua Knelman, Hot Art: Chasing Thieves and Detectives through the Secret World of Stolen Art (Douglas and McIntyre)
• Robyn Michele Levy, Most of Me: Surviving My Medical Meltdown (Greystone Books)
• Andrew Westoll, The Chimps of Fauna Sanctuary: A Canadian Story of Resilience and Recovery (HarperCollins Canada)

The winner will be announced on Sept. 19, and the award will be presented at a dinner and reading on Nov. 13 in Waterloo, Ontario, and again on Nov. 14 in Brantford, Ontario.