Exclusive Video Interviews with 2018 RBC Taylor Prize Finalists

The RBC Taylor Prize has been fulfilling its mandate to celebrate the literary non-fiction genre for 17 years - it's a legacy that has impacted countless Canadian writers and publishers and helped to bring the glamour of fiction-focused prizes to the powerful true stories being explored in Canadian writing.

The stakes are not just accolades and the prize purse (which at $25,000, certainly has a huge impact on a writer's life) though; the prize's mandate holds that public engagement with non-fiction is essential for a well-functioning democracy.

We're thrilled to be part of the RBC Taylor Prize's mission and will be bringing you not just one but two types of interviews with the 2018 finalists. Today you can watch exclusive video interviews, created for Open Book by the RBC Taylor Prize, and tomorrow we will be hosting a written interview with all five finalists (so stay tuned!).

Our thanks to the RBC Taylor Prize and all the talented finalists for these videos. With an amazing mix of titles on this year's shortlist, the breadth of knowledge and inspiration in these videos is fascinating. The shortlisted books include an exploration of a famous, doomed expedition; a personal story of renewal in a small patch of natural land amongst urban demands; a raw but hopeful picture of emergency medicine both at home and in the Global South; a fierce and essential critique of Canada's inaction on the deaths of Indigenous youths; and the astonishing story of a Jewish freedom fighter rescuing concentration camp survivors at the close of WWII. 

Interview with Stephen R. Bown, nominated for Island of the Blue Foxes: Disaster and Triumph on Bering's Great Voyage to Alaska (Douglas & McIntyre)

Interview with Daniel Coleman, nominated for Yardwork: A Biography of an Urban Place (Wolsak & Wynn)

Interview with James Maskalyk, nominated for Life on the Ground Floor: Letters from the Edge of Emergency Medicine (Doubelday Canada)

Interview with Tanya Talaga, nominated for Seven Fallen Feathers: Racism, Death, and Hard Truths in a Northern City (House of Anansi Press)

Interview with Max Wallace, nominated for In the Name of Humanity (Allen Lane Canada)

We'll be back tomorrow with more RBC Taylor Prize goodness, talking to the finalists about their love of non-fiction and their experience of being nominated for one of the country's biggest literary prizes. And on Monday (February 26), you can find out which of these talented authors are taking home the big prize!