John Vaillant’s bestselling book about the Fort McMurray wildfire is shortlisted for the Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing.
Fire Weather: The Making of a Beast is one of five non-fiction books in the running for the $25,000 award, which is administered by the Writers’ Trust of Canada.
It previously won the prestigious U.K.-based Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction.
The other finalists for the Shaughnessy Cohen Prize include Not Here: Why American Democracy Is Eroding and How Canada Can Protect Itself by Rob Goodman and Indictment: The Criminal Justice System on Trial by Benjamin Perrin.
Also in the running are Canada: Beyond Grudges, Grievances, and Disunity by Donald J. Savoie and The Age of Insecurity: Coming Together as Things Fall Apart by Astra Taylor.
The award, which will be handed out at the Politics and the Pen gala on May 7, goes to a work of political writing that “has the potential to shape or influence thinking on Canadian political life.”