CBC BOOKS, CBC’s online home for literary content, together with its partners the Canada Council for the Arts and Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, have announced the finalists for the 2021 CBC Nonfiction Prize.
The finalists are:
- Funhouse Mirrors by Alison Hughes (Edmonton)
- Northern Spring by Barbara Mackenzie (Yellowknife)
- Umbrella by Chanel M. Sutherland (Montreal)
- My Summer Body by Lee Thomas (Fredericton)
- A Borrowed Husband by Sarah Van Goethem (Bothwell, Ont.)
The essays were selected from over 2,000 entries received from across Canada. The public can read the shortlisted essays on CBCBooks.ca. The winner of this year’s prize will be announced on Thursday, September 29.
The 2021 CBC Nonfiction jurors are M.G. Vassanji, Jenny Heijun Wills and Tim Cook.
M.G. Vassanji has published short stories, novels, a memoir and a biography. He has won the Scotiabank Giller Prize twice: in 1994 for The Book of Secrets and in 2003 for The In-Between World of Vikram Lall. He has also won the Governor General's Literary Award, the Harbourfront Festival Prize and the Commonwealth First Book Prize. He was born in Nairobi, Kenya, raised in Tanzania and now lives in Toronto. His latest book is the short story collection What You Are.
Jenny Heijun Wills is an associate professor at the University of Winnipeg, where she serves as the Chancellor's Research Chair and teaches in the English Department. She was born in Korea and was adopted as an infant by a white family in southern Ontario. In her late 20s, Wills traveled to Seoul to look for her first family. She chronicles this reunion in her memoir Older Sister. Not Necessarily Related, which won the Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction and the Eileen McTavish Sykes First Book Prize from the Manitoba Book Awards.
Tim Cook is a historian at the Canadian War Museum. He has written several books about military history, including No Place to Run, Shock Troops, Fight to the Finish, At the Sharp End and Vimy: The Battle and the Legend and The Fight for History. He has twice won the C.P. Stacey Prize, which recognizes the most distinguished book in Canadian military history, and the Ottawa Book Award three times. He is a member of the Royal Society of Canada and the Order of Canada.
In addition to a cash prize of $6000 from the Canada Council for the Arts, the Grand Prize winner will receive a two-week writing residency at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity and will be published on the CBC Books website. The four other finalists will each receive $1000 from the Canada Council for the Arts and will be published on CBC Books.
For more information on the CBC Literary Prizes, please visit CBC Books.
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About CBC Books
Home to Canada Reads, Writers & Company with Eleanor Wachtel, The Next Chapter with Shelagh Rogers, Canada Writes and the CBC Literary Prizes, CBC Books connects Canadians with books, encouraging a shared love of reading and writing. For book news, writing challenges, reading lists, book recommendations and more, visit cbc.ca/books.
About CBC/Radio-Canada
CBC/Radio-Canada is Canada’s national public broadcaster. Through our mandate to inform, enlighten and entertain, we play a central role in strengthening Canadian culture. As Canada’s trusted news source, we offer a uniquely Canadian perspective on news, current affairs and world affairs. Our distinctively homegrown entertainment programming draws audiences from across the country. Deeply rooted in communities, CBC/Radio-Canada offers diverse content in English, French and eight Indigenous languages. We also deliver content in Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, Punjabi and Tagalog, as well as both official languages, through Radio Canada International (RCI). We are leading the transformation to meet the needs of Canadians in a digital world.
About Canada Council for the Arts
The Canada Council for the Arts is Canada’s public arts funder.
The Council’s grants, services, initiatives, prizes, and payments contribute to the vibrancy of a creative and diverse arts and literary scene and support its presence across Canada and abroad. The Council’s investments foster greater engagement in the arts among Canadians and international audiences.
The Council’s Public Lending Right (PLR) program makes annual payments to creators whose works are held in Canadian public libraries.
About Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity
Founded in 1933, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity is a learning organization built upon an extraordinary legacy of excellence in artistic and creative development. What started as a single course in drama has grown to become the global organization leading in arts, culture, and creativity across dozens of disciplines. From our home in the stunning Canadian Rocky Mountains, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity aims to inspire everyone who attends our campus – artists, leaders, and thinkers – to unleash their creative potential and realize their unique contribution to society through cross-disciplinary learning opportunities, world-class performances, and public outreach.
For further information, contact:
Frances Bedford, CBC PR
416-205-7673
Diane Hargrave, Diane Hargrave Public Relations
416-467-9954
