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Awarding the best nonfiction writers in Canada
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Announcing the 2021 finalists for the Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction

With a top prize of $60,000, this is the richest annual literary award for a Canadian book of nonfiction. Five finalists, selected this year by a jury of writers Kevin Chong, Terese Marie Mailhot, and Adam Shoalts, each receive $5,000. Discover the shortlisted books below, which combine the personal and the political and push the form of memoir to new heights.

Watch the winner announcement online Wednesday, November 3 as part of the digital Writers' Trust Awards. 

Congratulations to the 2021 #WestonPrize finalists:
Jordan Abel

NISHGA
Published by McClelland & Stewart
"NISHGA defies the boundaries and traditions of memoir to achieve something singular and necessary," said the jury. "Instead of striving to process information for the reader, Abel conscripts us into his endeavor by making central what is usually kept behind the curtain: research, found documents, even notes.

The result is an active reading experience that conveys the stakes with a power that sticks to the bones. This work fully realizes the complexity of the self and home, and the way atrocity reverberates through generations." 
 
Ken Haigh

On Foot to Canterbury: A Son's Pilgrimage

Published by University of Alberta Press
"On Foot to Canterbury is a beautifully written and eloquent story that skillfully weaves historical anecdotes into a journey through rural England, leaving the reader with practical, sage advice on how to deal with loss and depression, but most of all, on how to live," said the jury.

"Haigh’s eye to detail is a delight to read, as are his frequent musings on landscape and history. This subtle, moving story stays with you long after the book is finished."
 
Tomson Highway

Permanent Astonishment: A Memoir
Published by Doubleday Canada
"Permanent Astonishment is a mesmerizing story rich in detail about growing up in a Cree-speaking family in Northern Manitoba and later in a residential school," said the jury. "Highway’s writing delights in tales of eating muskrat tails, speaking Cree (and learning English), preparing for a Christmas concert, and listening to Hank Snow on a transistor radio.

While unstinting about the abuse he and others suffered, Highway makes a bold personal choice to accentuate the wondrousness of his school years resulting in a book that shines with the foundational sparks of adolescence: innocence, fear, and amazement."
 
Darrel J. McLeod

Peyakow: Reclaiming Cree Dignity, A Memoir 

Published by Douglas & McIntyre
"Peyakow is more than a story of overcoming adversity; it is a story of personal and political reclamation that explores the pain of living in a world controlled by agendas and priorities that exploit the people and the land itself," said the jury.

"Where McLeod finds connection, he also finds obligation. In the end, he discovers that being part of a community is not a passive act. McLeod’s vibrant prose renders the world with tenderness and skill. His profound book is full of love and trouble that you won’t soon forget." 
 
Ian Williams

Disorientation: Being Black in the World

Published by Random House Canada
"Disorientation is a formally inventive and searing meditation on race and Blackness," said the jury. "Both topical and literary, Williams’ essay collection juxtaposes personal stories about racial profiling and microaggressions alongside discussions about the murders of George Floyd and Eric Garner and readings of Black writers like Audre Lorde and James Baldwin.

His writing moves, by turn, from tenderness to despair to anger, yet remains clear-eyed and intellectually rigorous throughout. In an age of hot takes and condemnation, Williams’ essays reflect, explore, and illuminate."
 
Read more about the #WestonPrize shortlist

Jurors Kevin Chong, Terese Marie Mailhot, and Adam Shoalts read 107 titles submitted by 64 publishers to select the shortlist of five. For more information on this year’s finalists visit writerstrust.com/nonfiction.

The shortlisted titles will be available in accessible formats for different types of print disability through the Centre for Equitable Library Access (CELA) at celalibrary.ca/awards.

The Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction is awarded for literary excellence in the category of nonfiction. Recent winners include Jessica J. Lee for Two Trees Make a Forest, Jenny Heijun Wills for Older Sister. Not Necessarily Related., Elizabeth Hay for All Things Consoled, James Maskalyk for Life on the Ground Floor, and Deborah Campbell for A Disappearance in Damascus.

Honoured books are, in the opinion of the jury, the year’s best works of Canadian nonfiction and demonstrate a distinctive voice, as well as a persuasive and compelling command of tone, narrative, style, and technique. This award has been sponsored by The Hon. Hilary M. Weston since 2011 and succeeds the Writers’ Trust Nonfiction Prize, which was established in 1997. 
“If this past year has proven anything, it is that people need books that speak to our unique circumstance, tell our individual stories, and help us navigate our challenging times,” said prize sponsor The Hon. Hilary M. Weston.

“It remains an honour to continue to recognize and reward five Canadian writers who make sense of our shared experiences and use language so beautifully.”
About the Writers' Trust Awards
This year’s Writers’ Trust Awards ceremony is made possible by numerous corporate, foundation, and individual sponsors. Media partner The Globe and Mail provides additional support as does project partner Indigo Books & Music. The project is partially funded by the Government of Canada through the Department of Canadian Heritage. 

Visit writerstrust.com or follow @writerstrust on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to watch.


About Writers’ Trust
The Writers’ Trust of Canada is a charitable organization that seeks to advance, nurture, and celebrate Canadian writers and writing through a portfolio of programs including eleven national literary awards, financial grants, career development initiatives for emerging writers, and a writers’ retreat. Writers’ Trust programming is designed to champion excellence in Canadian writing, to improve the status of writers, and to create connections between writers and readers. Canada’s writers receive more financial support from the Writers’ Trust than from any other non-governmental organization or foundation in the country.

 
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