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Susan Pedersen wins 2015 Cundill Prize

Pedersen accepting her award (photo: Tom Sandler)

Pedersen accepting her award (photo: Tom Sandler)

Historian and Columbia University history professor Susan Pedersen was named winner of the 2015 Cundill Prize in Historical Literature at McGill on Nov. 3 for her fifth book, The Guardians: The League of Nations and the Crisis of Empire (Oxford University Press). The $75,000 prize, awarded to Pedersen at a ceremony in Toronto, is the world’s richest award for a non-fiction title.

The Guardians sheds light on the formation and conquests of the League of Nations following the First World War.

Pedersen was selected from a list of finalists – who each received a $10,000 recognition of excellence award – culled from 159 international submissions. Currently living and working in New York, the author was born and raised in Japan by Canadian missionary parents.