Canada's Most Prestigious Non-Fiction Award Gathers Expert Decision-makers
TORONTO, Nov. 10, 2016 The Trustees of the Charles Taylor Foundation are pleased to announce that the jurors for the 2017 RBC Taylor Prize are: John English, Ann MacMillan, and Colin McAdam.
John English is a Canadian historian and writer who taught at the University of Waterloo for several decades, retiring in 2009. Currently Distinguished Visiting Professor at the Canadian Forces College and Director of the Bill Graham Centre for Contemporary International History at Trinity College at the University of Toronto, he is best known for his two-volume biographies of two Canadian Prime Ministers: Lester B. Pearson and Pierre Elliott Trudeau. The former won numerous awards including the Macdonald Prize of the Canadian Historical Association, the John W. Dafoe Prize, and the Canadian Authors Association Non-Fiction prize. The latter won the Shaughnessy Cohen Prize, the University of British Columbia Biography Prize, and the Dafoe Prize. Both volumes of the Trudeau biography were finalists for the Governor General's Literary Award for Non-Fiction and the RBC Taylor Prize.
One of Global TV`s first female reporters, Ann MacMillan joined CBC's The Journal as London Correspondent in 1981, went on to cover news for CBC TV and Radio, and was CBC's London Bureau Chief until her retirement in December, 2013. During her long career in journalism, Ann worked for CHIN Radio in Toronto and CTV News in Toronto, Montreal, and London, England. She is currently co-authoring a book with her husband Journalist Peter Snow about outstanding individuals who took part in conflicts ranging from the Crimean War to modern-day Syria; the book will be published in autumn 2017.
Colin McAdam is the author of three acclaimed novels. The most recent, A Beautiful Truth, won the 2013 Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize. He has written essays and memoirs for Harper's, Granta, and other publications, and holds a PhD in Medieval and Renaissance Literature from Cambridge University. Colin McAdam lives in Toronto.
Noreen Taylor, Prize Founder and Chairman of the Charles Taylor Foundation, remarked: "This is a prize that pushes non-fiction boundaries through the diligent, thoughtful, and sheer hard work of its jury. Heartfelt thanks for your essential involvement!We all look forward with great anticipation to your selections for the 2017 RBC Taylor Prize."
Key Dates: The Longlist will be shared on Wednesday, December 7, 2016; the Shortlist will be announced at a news conference on Wednesday, January 11; and the winner revealed at a gala luncheon on Monday, March 6, 2017.
The RBC Taylor Prize recognizes excellence in Canadian non-fiction writing and emphasizes the development of the careers of the authors it celebrates.
About The RBC Taylor Prize:
Established biennially in 1998 by the trustees of the Charles Taylor Foundation, 2017 marks the sixteenth awarding of the RBC Taylor Prize, which commemorates Charles Taylor's pursuit of excellence in the field of literary non-fiction. Awarded to the author whose book best combines a superb command of the English language, an elegance of style, and a subtlety of thought and perception, the Prize consists of $25,000 for the winner and $2,000 for each of the remaining finalists, as well as promotional support to help all of the nominated books to stand out in the media, bookstores, and libraries. All authors are presented with a custom leather bound version of their shortlisted book at the awards ceremony.
Earlier this year, Rosemary Sullivan won the 2016 RBC Taylor Prize for her book Stalin's Daughter:The Extraordinary and Tumultuous Life of Svetlana Alliluyeva, published by HarperCollins Publishers. Ms Sullivan selected Adnan Khan as this year's recipient of the RBC Taylor Prize Emerging Writer Award, which was established in 2013 to provide recognition and assistance to a Canadian published author who is working on a significant writing project in literary non-fiction.
The trustees of the Charles Taylor Foundation are: Michael Bradley, Vijay Parmar, David Staines, Edward Taylor, Nadina Taylor, and Noreen Taylor.
The presenting sponsor of the RBC Taylor Prize is RBC Wealth Management. Its media sponsors are The Globe and Mail, CNW Group, The Huffington Post Canada, Maclean's magazine, Quill & Quire magazine, and SiriusXM; its in-kind sponsors are Ben McNally Books, Event Source, IFOA, The Omni King Edward Hotel, and the Toronto Public Library Board.
To download high-resolution images of the trustees and the jury please go to: www.rbctaylorprize.ca/2017/2017_trustees_and_jury.zip
For general information about the Prize please go to: www.rbctaylorprize.ca. Follow the RBC Taylor Prize on Twitter at www.twitter.com/taylorprize
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SOURCE RBC Taylor Prize
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