Two authors from Vancouver have been selected for The Writers’ Trust of Canada shortlist for the $25,000 Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing.
It was announced on March 20 that John Vaillant with his book Fire Weather and
Benjamin Perrin with Indictment: The Criminal Justice System on Trial join three other authors on the list for the prize which is given each year for a work of “literary non-fiction about a political topic important to Canadian readers and has the potential to influence thinking on Canadian political life.”
This year’s winner will be revealed on May 7 at the annual Politics and the Pen gala in Ottawa.
Indictment: The Criminal Justice System on Trial by Benjamin Perrin.
A jury made up of past prize winner Joanna Chiu, past prize finalist Dale Eisler, and former premier of Ontario Kathleen Wynne picked the finalists from a list of 46 books submitted by 28 publishing companies.
Perrin is a professor at the Peter A. Allard School of Law at the University of British Columbia and the writer of Overdose, Victim Law, and Criminal Law, Perrin previously worked as a law clerk at the Supreme Court of Canada, advised judges at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and Special Court for Sierra Leone, and was a legal adviser to the Prime Minister’s Office under Stephen Harper.
“Indictment presents a strong vision for a complete change of Canada’s criminal justice system,” said the jury in a statement. “Perrin skillfully combines vivid case studies with the most recent research on how to create a safer society for all.”
A chronicler of the natural world, Vaillant is an internationally acclaimed author of fiction and non-fiction including the books The Jaguar’s Children, The Golden Spruce, and The Tiger.
“Like a blazing inferno that captures our attention and admiration, we cannot look away from Fire Weather,” said the jury. “Almost tenderly, Vaillant introduces us to the people on the front line of the fossil fuel industry and the fire it creates that threatens us all.”
The books shortlisted are:
Not Here: Why American Democracy Is Eroding and How Canada Can Protect Itself
By Rob Goodman (Toronto)
Published by Simon & Schuster Canada
Indictment: The Criminal Justice System on Trial
By Benjamin Perrin (Vancouver)
Published by Aevo UTP
Canada: Beyond Grudges, Grievances, and Disunity
By Donald J. Savoie (Moncton)
Published by McGill-Queen’s University Press
The Age of Insecurity: Coming Together as Things Fall Apart
By Astra Taylor (New York, NY)
Published by House of Anansi Press
Fire Weather: The Making of a Beast
By John Vaillant (Vancouver)
Published by Knopf Canada
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- A plea to protect the wild horses of B.C.'s Chilcotin
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