RBC Taylor
Prize Announces New Jury for 2018
The Trustees of the
Charles Taylor Foundation are pleased to announce that the jurors for the 2018
RBC Taylor Prize are: Christine Elliott, Anne Giardini, and James Polk.
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| Christine Elliott |
Christine Elliott is
Ontario’s first-ever Patient Ombudsman and has been an advocate for vulnerable people
for many years. Ms. Elliott has served as a volunteer with numerous community
organizations, including the Grandview Children’s Centre and Durham Mental
Health Services. A lawyer by profession, she was also a longtime Progressive
Conservative MPP (2006 to 2015) representing her home riding of Whitby-Oshawa.
 |
| Anne Giardini |
Anne Giardini, O.C.,
Q.C., is an author, board director and the 11th Chancellor of Simon
Fraser University. She has published two novels, The Sad Truth About Happiness and Advice for Italian Boys. In 2016, together with her son Nicholas,
Anne Giardini published Startle and
Illuminate, a book of writing advice from her mother, the late Canadian
author Carol Shields. Giardini has been Chair of the Vancouver International
Writers Festival, and a board member of the Writers’ Trust of Canada and PEN
Canada.
 |
| James Polk |
James Polk was the
long time editorial director of House of Anansi Press and edited two books by
Charles Taylor, as well as work by Margaret Atwood, George Grant, Northrop
Frye, and many others. With a literature PhD he has taught at Harvard, Idaho,
Ryerson and Alberta, and has written a comic novel, a stage comedy about
Canadian publishing, articles, short stories, and criticism about Canadian
writers and writing. As an advisor at the Ontario Ministry of Culture, he
worked on grants for theatre and books, developed a tax credit for publishers
and remodelled the Trillium Book Prize to include Franco Ontarian writing. He
lives in Toronto and, trained as a pianist, still practices daily, playing
classics and show-tunes in seclusion.
Noreen
Taylor, Prize Founder and Chair of the Charles Taylor Foundation,
remarked: “Literary non-fiction is the best medium for our nation’s top authors
to examine the world beyond the recording of facts and a parade of data. Our
esteemed jury will read through 150+ entries and rigorously debate titles to be
included on the prize longlist announced in December. Readers across the
country look forward with great anticipation to the jury’s selections for the
2018 RBC Taylor Prize.”
Key Dates: The
Longlist will be shared on Wednesday, December 6, 2017; the Shortlist will be
announced at a news conference on Wednesday, January 10, 2018; and the winner
revealed at a gala luncheon on Monday February 26, 2018.
The RBC Taylor Prize recognizes excellence in Canadian non-fiction
writing and emphasizes the development of the careers of the authors it
celebrates.
About
The RBC Taylor Prize:
Established
in 1998 by the trustees of the Charles Taylor Foundation and first awarded in
2000, 2018 marks the seventeenth awarding of the RBC Taylor Prize, which
commemorates Charles Taylor’s pursuit of excellence in the field of literary
non-fiction. 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 Prize consists of $30,000 for the winner and $5,000 for each of
the remaining finalists. All authors are presented with a custom leather bound
version of their shortlisted book at the awards ceremony.
The Prize provides all of the finalists with promotional support to
help all of the nominated books to stand out in the media, bookstores, and
libraries.
Earlier
this year, Ross King won the 2017 RBC Taylor Prize for his book Mad Enchantment: Claude Monet and the
Painting of the Water Liliespublished by Bond Street Books.
Mr. King selected Cassi Smith as the 2017 recipient of the RBC Taylor
Prize Emerging Writer Award. This award featuring a $10,000 cash award, and
mentorship from the naming author was established in 2013 to provide
recognition and assistance to a Canadian published author who is working on a
significant writing project in literary non-fiction. Ms. Smith, a Saskatchewan
based graduate student, is working on a collection of non-fiction short stories
based on her interviews with Saskatchewan’s First Nations Elders.
The
trustees of the Charles Taylor Foundation are: Michael Bradley, Vijay Parmar,
David Staines, Edward Taylor, Nadina Taylor, and Noreen Taylor. The Executive
Director is Su Hutchinson.
The
presenting sponsor of the RBC Taylor Prize is RBC Wealth
Management. Its media sponsors are The
Globe and Mail, Cision, The Huffington Post Canada, Maclean’s magazine, Quill & Quire magazine; its in-kind sponsors are Ben McNally
Books, Event Source, IFOA, The Omni King Edward Hotel, and the Toronto Public
Library Board.
To
download high-resolution images of the trustees and the jury
please go to: www.rbctaylorprize.ca/2018/2018_trustees_and_jury.zip
For
general information about the Prize please go to:
www.rbctaylorprize.ca.
Follow the RBC
Taylor Prize on Twitter at www.twitter.com/taylorprize
Follow the RBC
Taylor Prize on Facebook at www.facebook.com/RBCTaylorPrize
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For further
information:
Media contact: Stephen
Weir & Associates
Stephen Weir: 416-489-5868 | cell: 416-801-3101 | stephen@stephenweir.com
