Latest news with #ShaughnessyCohenPrize
CBC
02-04-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Tanya Talaga among finalists for $25K political writing prize for nonfiction work The Knowing
Social Sharing Tanya Talaga is among the shortlisted writers for the 2025 Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing. The $25,000 prize is awarded annually for a book of literary nonfiction that embodies a political subject relevant to Canadian readers and Canadian political life. She is nominated for her book, The Knowing, which charts the life of her great-great grandmother Annie and the violence she and her family suffered at the hands of the Catholic Church and Canadian government. "I had to find out about Annie," said Talaga on Bookends with Mattea Roach. "I was just enraptured by her. I mean, she's been a mystery for my entire family for over 80 years. We're going to find those people that are crying out to be found. They need to be recognized and heard. "Part of the reason why I wrote this book ... was to empower other First Nations people to do the same thing, to try and look back. And by looking back in our family trees, we're going to find those people that are crying out to be found. They need to be recognized and heard." The Knowing is also a four-part documentary, which can be streamed on CBC Gem. Talaga is a journalist, author and filmmaker of Anishinaabe and Polish descent and a member of the Fort William First Nation. Talaga also wrote the nonfiction work Seven Fallen Feathers, which received the RBC Taylor Prize, the First Nation Communities Read: Young Adult/Adult Award and the Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing. In her 2018 CBC Massey Lectures series, titled All Our Relations, Talaga explored the legacy of cultural genocide against Indigenous peoples. The other shortlisted writers for the Shaughnessy Cohen Prrize for Political Writing are Raymond B. Blake for Canada's Prime Ministers and the Shaping of a National Identity; Stephen Maher for The Prince, about Justin Trudeau's tenure as prime minister; Jane Philpott for Heath for All, a book the provides solutions to make Canada healthier; and Alasdair Roberts for The Adaptable Country, about how Canada can survive this century. They were chosen by jurors Jennifer Ditchburn, Sara Mojtehedzadeh and Christopher Waddell. All the titles are available in accessible formats through the Centre for Equitable Library Access. The winner will be announced on Sept. 24, 2025 at the Politics and the Pen gala. Last year's winner was John Vaillant's Fire Weather: The Making of a Beast. Other past winners include Kamal Al Solaylee, Beverley McLachlin, Jane Jacobs and Roméo Dallaire. The Shaughnessy Cohen Prize was established in honour of the Member of Parliament from Windsor, Ont. and is administered by the Writers' Trust of Canada. It is sponsored by CN and supported by the Politics and the Pen gala. The Writers' Trust of Canada is an organization that supports Canadian writers through 11 annual national literary awards, fellowships, financial grants, mentorships and more.
CBC
05-03-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Women Who Woke Up the Law by Karin Wells
"Who was the woman trying to convince a jury in a tiny courthouse in Nova Scotia that it was self-defense when she killed her partner; and who was the young woman walking into the palais de justice in small-town Quebec arguing that it was her choice, not his, to have an abortion? What was it that pushed these women on, even when the lawyers said it was hopeless?" From the award-winning author of The Abortion Caravan and More Than a Footnote, Karin Wells once again pulls us into the lives—and this time, the legal trials—of a group of women integral to the advancement of women's rights in Canada. Eliza Campbell, Chantale Daigle, Jeannette Corbiere Lavell—these Women Who Woke Up the Law often had no idea what they were facing in the courts, or the price they would have to pay. Some never saw justice themselves, but they left a legal legacy. Their bold determination is something we need now more than ever to guard the hard-won gains in women's rights. (From Second Story Press) Women Who Woke Up the Law is available in March 2025. The Abortion Caravan, which was shortlisted for the Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing, and More Than a Footnote. She lives in Port Hope, Ontario.
