Diane Schoemperlen (Mark Raynes Roberts)

The five finalists vying for this year’s RBC Taylor Prize‚ recognizing the best in Canadian-authored literary non-fiction with a $25,000 purse‚ were announced at the Omni King Edward Hotel in Toronto this morning.

Author Colin McAdam presented the shortlist and jury citations on behalf of the prize jury‚ which also includes historian John English and broadcaster Ann MacMillan. The list is as follows:

• Max Eisen‚ By Chance Alone: A Remarkable True Story of Courage and Survival at Auschwitz (HarperCollins Canada)
• Matti Friedman‚ Pumpkinflowers: An Israeli Soldier’s Story (Signal/McClelland & Stewart)
• Ross King‚  Mad Enchantment: Claude Monet and the Painting of Water Lilies (Bond Street Books)
• Marc Raboy‚ Marconi: The Man Who Networked the World (Oxford University Press)
• Diane Schoemperlen‚ This Is Not My Life: A Memoir of Love, Prison, and Other Complications (HarperCollins)

Four of the five authors were also nominated for this year’s B.C. National Award for Non-fiction‚ and Friedman and King were also present on the 2016 Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Non-fiction shortlist.

The finalists each receive a $2,000 prize and will take part in a free round-table discussion on March 3 at the Toronto Reference Library. They will also participate in an authors brunch hosted by bookseller Ben McNally and The Globe and Mail on March 5 at the Omni King Edward Hotel.

The winner will be announced at a gala luncheon on March 6‚ also at the Omni King Edward Hotel. The winning author will soon after select a winner for the $10,000 RBC Taylor Prize Emerging Writers Award.