Finalists
announced for the 2015 Cundill Prize in Historical Literature
Three books to
compete for $75,000 US grand prize
 |
| three books in the running for the Cundill Prize |
Montreal. October 1, 2015 – Today the jury for the world’s most lucrative award
for historical non-fiction writing announced this year's finalist list. There are now three potential winners in the
running for the $75,000 US 2015 Cundill Prize.
The
three finalists are:
- Sven Beckert – Empire of Cotton: A
Global History (Alfred A. Knopf)
- Susan Pedersen – The Guardians: The
League of Nations and the Crisis of Empire (Oxford University Press)
- Bettina Stangneth – Eichmann before
Jerusalem: The Unexamined Life of a Mass Murderer (Bodley Head)
This
year’s Cundill jury includes Anthony Cary, British
Commissioner of the Commonwealth Scholarship and Fellowship Plan; David
Frum, author and editor for The Atlantic; Chad
Gaffield, University of Ottawa Professor of History and University
Research Chair in Digital Scholarship; Maya
Jasanoff, Coolidge Professor of History and Harvard College
Professor at Harvard University (Liberty’s
Exiles: American Loyalists in the
Revolutionary World); and author Anna Porter, (Buying
a Better World: George Soros and Billionaire Philanthropy, The Ghosts of Europe)
and winner of the Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing.
“The Cundill Prize jury is looking for that
certain book that is scholarly but that is written in a language that speaks to
an audience outside the academy,” said Prof.
Hudson Meadwell, who serves as Administrative Chair of the Cundill Prize. “
The Cundill Prize is a wonderful form of recognition. It is a relatively new award and it is
gaining more impact with each passing award. It is now recognized as the most
important historical prize in the English language.”
The
Cundill Prize accepts books published in English – or translated to English –
in the area of history. This year the
Prize received 159 titles from
publishers around the globe. In addition to the Grand Prize, two “Recognition
of Excellence” awards of $10,000 U.S. each, are granted to the runners-up. There were six books in the jury’s original
shortlist; today’s announcement narrows the field to just three titles.
The
Grand Prize winner of the 2015 Cundill Prize will be announced at a gala awards
ceremony in Toronto on Monday, November 2, at the Shangri-La Hotel. Famed
Canadian author (The Massey Murder; Gold Diggers, Striking It Rich in the
Klondike) and speaker Charlotte Gray will
host.
The
2014 Cundill Prize was won by Gary J.
Bass, a professor of politics at Princeton University for his detailing of
a forgotten / ignored mass tragedy in Bangladesh. The book The Blood Telegram:
Nixon, Kissinger, and a Forgotten Genocide was published in 2013 by Alfred
A. Knopf. Professor Bass will be the keynote speaker at the annual
Cundill Prize Lecture on October 8, 2015. The afternoon lecture will be held at
Birks Heritage Chapel, 2nd floor 3520 University Street in Montreal.
About
the Prize: The Cundill Prize
in Historical Literature at McGill is the world’s most important international
nonfiction historical literature prize. It was established in 2008 by McGill
alumnus F. Peter Cundill, who passed away in January 2011. The prize is
administered by McGill University’s Dean of Arts, with the help of the McGill
Institute for the Study of Canada (MISC), and is awarded annually to an
individual who has published a book determined to have had a profound literary,
social and academic impact in the area of history.
MONTREAL:
Cynthia
Lee,
McGill
University
cynthia.lee@mcgill.ca
514-398-6754
TORONTO:
Stephen
Weir & Associates
Stephen@stephenweir.com
416-801-3101
416-489-5868
www.mcgill.ca
For
more information: www.cundillprize.com
Follow
us on Twitter: @CundillPrize
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