Margaret Atwood and the RBC Foundation to unveil 2020 Shortlist Wed Jan 8 at King Eddie

RBC Taylor Prize will announce 2020 shortlist Wednesday January 8

The trustees of the Charles Taylor Foundation request the media to attend a conference to announce the finalists for the final 2020 RBC Taylor Prize. The 30-minute press conference will take place Wednesday, January 8, 2020 10 a.m. sharp in the Consort Bar (Main Level) of The Omni King Edward Hotel, 37 King Street East Toronto, ON M5C 1E9.

There will be five finalists on this year's shortlist, which the jury will select from the 12 longlisted books announced in early December 2019.
Who: Noreen Taylor, chair of the Charles Taylor Foundation and Prize founder. Presenting Sponsor Vijay Parmar, president of RBC PH&N Investment Counsel, RBC Taylor Prize 2020 Juror Margaret Atwood
What: RBC Taylor Prize Shortlist Announcement Event
Why: To hear the names of the shortlist authors/books and celebrate all 12 books on the RBC Taylor Prize longlist of Canadian Literary Nonfiction works.
When: Wednesday, January 08, 2020 at 10:00 am sharp
Where: The Omni King Edward Hotel, Main Level Consort Bar, 37 King Street East, downtown Toronto

The longlist Books for the 2020 RBC Taylor Prize are:

Rush to Danger: Medics in the Line of Fire by Ted Barris, published by Harper Collins Canada
Bush Runner: The Adventures of Pierre-Esprit Radisson by Mark Bourrie, published by Biblioasis
The Grandmaster: Magnus Carlsen and the Match That Made Chess Great Again by Brin-Jonathan Butler, published by Simon & Schuster
Had it Coming: What's Fair in the Age of #MeToo by Robyn Doolittle, published by Allen Lane
We Have Always Been Here: A Queer Muslim Memoir by Samra Habib, published by Viking Canada
In My Own Moccasins: A Memoir of Resilience by Helen Knott, published by University of Regina Press
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, published by Doubleday Canada
The Regency Years: During Which Jane Austen Writes, Napoleon Fights, Byron Makes Love and Britain Becomes Modern by Robert Morrison, published by W.W. Norton
Overrun: Dispatches from the Asian Carp Crisis by Andrew Reeves, published by ECW Press
The Mongolian Chronicles: A Story of Eagles, Demons and Empires by Allen Smutylo, published by Goose Lane Editions
The Reality Bubble: Blind Spots, Hidden Truths, and the Dangerous Illusions that Shape Our World by Ziya Tong, published by Allen Lane
The Mosquito: A Human History of our Deadliest Predator by Timothy C. Winegard, published by Allen Lane

About The RBC Taylor Prize:

2020 marks the 20th anniversary 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 $5,000 for each finalist, and a further $25,000 for the winner. All authors are presented with a custom leather-bound version of their shortlisted book at the awards ceremony.
The trustees of the Charles Taylor Foundation are Vijay Parmar, David Staines, Edward Taylor, Nadina Taylor, and Noreen Taylor. The Manager is Sheila Kay. The jurors for the 2020 RBC Taylor Prize are: Margaret Atwood, Coral Ann Howells and Peter Theroux.

For further information: For further information: Media contact: Stephen Weir & Associates, Stephen Weir: 416-489-5868 | cell: 416-801-3101 | stephen@stephenweir.com, @sweirsweir

USING ONLY BLACK BLACK LEGO

EKOW NIMAKO BRIDGES AFRICA’S PAST WITH ITS FAR FUTURE 

 by Stephen Weir

Two years ago Lego artist Ekow Nimako built a statue of a girl on top of a galloping black unicorn.  The 8ft by 6ft sculpture, made with over 80,000 black Lego bricks, became the symbol of Scarborough at Toronto’s annual all-night Nuit Blanc festival.

Nimako collaborated with filmmaker Director X, to create the art piece they dubbed Cavalier Noir. The statue stood as a symbol of a bold and fearless future for the hood.

Turns out the Lego artist had just begun to think big and to think black.  Earlier this fall the Montreal born Scarborough raised Ghanaian-Canadian was at Toronto’s Aga Khan Museum to see the opening of his exhibition Building Black: Civilizations.

Nimako channels Africa’s remarkable history and its powerful future into an alternate universe sculpture. It is an art piece where the ruined medieval Mauritania city of Kumbi Saleh has risen from the rubble to once again be the capital of the Ghana Empire. 

This painstakingly made monumental 30-square-foot centrepiece evokes a utopian metropolis. The Lego city is surrounded by smaller sculptures of wild animals, camels, warriors and medieval castles scenes built with over 100,000 black Lego pieces.

It almost looks like the set in the opening of the Game of Thrones TV show - Kumbi Saleh links medieval Africa’s advanced civilizations with a vision of the continent’s powerful future.

One can’t help but be in awe what Ekow Nimako can do with simple pieces of Lego. He presents highly detailed small-scale pieces to make large images of Africa 1000 years ago, somehow forging a vision of the continent 1000 years into the future.

It is not surprising that people say Huh a log while touring the gallery. And, it is not uncommon for visitors to wonder why it is all made with Lego pieces and why is it all black?

“Lego is not something you associate with Blackness or Black culture in any regard. Right?” said Nimako. “The standard yellow Lego pieces where they started still is almost synonymous for white. For me, well for me when I am going to make my art it is definitely going to be Black.”

Building Black: Civilizations fills a gallery within the Aga Khan Museum. It was commissioned by the Toronto museum to compliment their nearby Afrocentric exhibition Caravans of Gold, Fragments in Time.

The Aga Khan Museum has partnered with African nations and members of the African diaspora to bring the groundbreaking show to Toronto.

Caravans is both history and art.  There are recently unearthed archaeological fragments on display. There are also items on loan from national collections in Mali, Nigeria, and Morocco. Both the Caravans of Gold, Fragments in Time: Art, Culture and Exchange Across Medieval Saharan Africa and Building Black: Civilizations exhibitions will be on display until February 23rd 2020. The Aga Khan Museum is located at 77 Wynford

Drive. Wynford Drive is located one light north of Eglinton off Don Mills Road.

Deborah Dundas to host The RBC Taylor Prize's final roundtable event

Final roundtable event before the conclusion of the RBC Taylor Prize For Literary Nonfiction's 20-year history

The RBC Taylor Prize and the Toronto International Festival of Authors (TIFA) are delighted to present the 2020 RBC Taylor Prize Finalists in Conversation on Thursday, February 27 at 7:30pm at Harbourfront Centre. The esteemed authors, representing Canada's leading works of literary non-fiction from 2019, will take part in a roundtable discussion, moderated by Deborah Dundas (Books Editor, Toronto Star), followed by an audience Q&A. The 2020 RBC Taylor Prize finalists will be announced on January 8, 2020.
The RBC Taylor Prize and TIFA are proud to collaborate on this annual event one last time in the lead up to the March 2 winner announcement of the final RBC Taylor Prize, which after 20 years will reach its conclusion in 2020. The event will celebrate the best achievements in literary non-fiction from 2019, through lively discussion with The Prize's five finalists.

The event is free to attend, however, pre-registration is encouraged at  FestivalofAuthors.ca.

About the RBC Taylor Prize

2020 marks the 20th anniversary 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 $5,000 for each finalist, and a further $25,000 for the winner.

About the Toronto International Festival of Authors

The Toronto International Festival of Authors (TIFA) is Canada's largest and longest-running festival of words and ideas. Since 1974, it has hosted over 9,000 authors from more than 100 countries, including 22 Nobel Laureates. TIFA connects curious readers of every kind with leading authors and provides forums to showcase Canadian talent to the world. TIFA presents events and programmes all year round and will celebrate the 41st edition of the Festival October 22 – November 1, 2020.
The RBC Taylor Prize Our thanks Cision Canada (CNW Group) for their long time sponsorship of the Prize.

For further information: MEDIA CONTACTS: Stephen Weir & Associates, Stephen Weir: 416-489-5868 | cell: 416-801-3101 | stephen@stephenweir.com; Amy Dennis, Head of Marketing, 416-973-4395 | adennis@festivalofauthors.ca
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