RBC Taylor Prize 2020 Longlist Announced: Mark Bourrie, Andrew Reeves, Robyn Doolittle Among Nominees

After making the announcement two weeks ago that next year's ceremony will be its last, the RBC Taylor Prize has released its (slightly longer than usual) longlist of nominees for 2020. Esteemed jurors Margaret Atwood, Coral Ann Howels, and Peter Theroux shared the news via press release, where they had this to say:

"Both new and veteran jury members among us were dazzled by the over 150 sterling RBC Taylor Prize submissions this year. Distilling these diverse riches, embracing the social, personal, political, and historical into a mere list of ten, was a profound but rewarding challenge - our list could have been much longer, and indeed it is slightly longer than we were asked for! Readers globally can be thankful for a year of such exceptional Canadian contributions."

The longlisted nominees are:

1. Rush to Danger: Medics in the Line of Fire by Ted Barris (HarperCollins Canada)

2. Bush Runner: The Adventures of Pierre-Espirit Radisson by Mark Bourrie (Biblioasis)

3. The Grandmaster: Magnus Carlsen and the Match That Made Chess Great Again by Brin-Jonathan Butler (Simon & Schuster)

4. Had it Coming: What's Fair in the Age of #MeToo by Robyn Doolittle (Allen Lane)

5. We Have Always Been Here: A Queer Muslim Memoir by Samra Habib (Viking Canada)

6. In My Own Moccasins: A Memoir of Resilience by Helen Knott (University of Regina Press)

7. Highway of Tears: A True Story of Racism, Indifference and the Pursuit of Justice for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls by Jessica McDiarmid (Doubleday Canada)

8. The Regency Years: During Which Jane Austen Writes, Napoleon Fights, Byron Makes Love and Britain Becomes Modern by Robert Morrison (W.W. Norton)

9. Overrun: Dispatches from the Asian Carp Crisis by Andrew Reeves (ECW Press)

10. The Mongolian Chronicles: A Story of Eagles, Demons and Empires by Allen Smutylo (Goose Lane Editions)

11. The Reality Bubble: Blind Spots, Hidden Truths, and the Dangerous Illusions that Shape Our World by Ziva Tong (Allen Lane)

12. The Mosquito: A Human History of our Deadliest Predator by Timothy C. Winegard (Allen Lane)

Established in 1998, the prize honours Charles Taylor's pursuit of excellence in the field of literary non-fiction and is 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 winner will take home $30,000, while each finalist will receive $5,000, a custom leather-bound version of their book at the ceremony, and promotional support for their nominated titles.

The 2020 RBC Taylor Prize Shortlist will be announced at a morning press conference on Wednesday, January 8, 2020, with the winner announced at a special 20th Anniversary gala luncheon on Monday, March 2, 2020.

For more information about the RBC Taylor Prize, visit their website