Empire of Cotton author Sven Beckert nominated for Cundill Prize!

Meet the Cundill Prize finalists! Sven Beckert is nominated for his book Empire of Cotton. He is the winner of the BANCROFT PRIZE and is a PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST. 

Sven Beckert

Sven Beckert is the Laird Bell Professor of American History at Harvard University. Holding a PhD from Columbia University, he has written widely on the economic, social, and political history of capitalism. He has been the recipient of numerous awards and fellowships, including from Harvard Business School, the Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library, and the Charles Warren Center for Studies in American History. 

He was also a fellow of the American Council of Learned Societies and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. He lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

The Cundill Prize is the richest award for non-fiction writing in the world.  The Prize, administered by McGill University

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 of $75,000 US, two “Recognition of Excellence” awards of $10,000 U.S. each are granted to the runners-up.  

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.   

Red Bull parachutist drops in to Toronto's Science Centre

High Flying Celeb, Felix Baumgartner, opens new exhibition 

Austrian parachutist Felix Baumgarter dropped into the Ontario Science Centre yesterday in a very ho-hum way - through the front door. Not known for pedestrian entrances, the Austrian daredevil let an exciting new exhibition do all his talking at a media launch yesterday.
With a passion for expanding boundaries, especially in the air, Red Bull Stratos pilot Felix Baumgartner is an expert parachutist best known for jumping from a high altitude balloon at the edge of the earth’s atmosphere three years ago.

Photo by George Socka - Beach Digital

Wearing only a spacesuit, and 10 minutes of oxygen on his back, Baumgartner stepped out from the balloon’s capsule and accelerated to Mach 1.25 in just 50 seconds before parachuting to the ground. His mission set records and also delivered valuable scientific data, serving to further the progress of aerospace safety, including the development of protocols for exposure to high altitude and supersonic acceleration and deceleration.
The story of his accomplishment is part of a new exhibition at the Science Centre. The Red Bull Stratos exhibit opened yesterday and closes January 11, 2016.
Felix, born April 20, 1969, grew up in Salzburg, Austria where he dreamed of skydiving and flying helicopters and was inspired by astronauts on TV. He made his first skydive at age 16. Eager to test the limits, Felix set a record for history's lowest BASE jump (from Rio de Janeiro's Christ the Redeemer statue), twice set world records for the highest BASE jump from a building (Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur and Taipei 101 tower), and even landed his canopy inside a cave in Croatia. He is also famous for completing an unprecedented freefall flight across the English Channel using a carbon wing!
Photographer George Socka took this picture of Art Thompson (left) and Felix Baumgartner.  They are standing in front of the Red Bull Stratos capsule at the Science Centre. Thompson was the technical project director on the expedition and Felix Baumgartner, the pilot and parachutist.

George Socka reported on Baugarter's appearance in Toronto at the Ontario Science Centre in this YouTube clip
https://youtu.be/2WOqCHejpoc

Day before John Lennon's Birthday, new book is launched by Ritchie Yorke

Ritchie taking notes for the Globe and Mail beside John Lennon

Book Cover

RITCHIE YORKE’S TRUE STORY OF JOHN AND YOKO’s CANADIAN PEACE MOVEMENT IS ABOUT TO BE PUBLISHED - MEET/INTERVIEW THE AUTHOR RITCHIE YORKE 

All We Are Saying Is Give Peace A Chance

Lennon Peace Campaign To Be celebrated

At Ritchie Yorke's Book Launch

Toronto Oct. 8, 2015 – The Lennon Peace anthem crafted in a one week bed-in in Montreal in 1969 resonates today as it did then.  Rock journalist and activist Ritchie Yorke has detailed his recollections of that week andThe Toronto Varsity Rock Concert.  John meeting Trudeau. And his Traveling the World For Peace with Ronnie Hawkins in his new book  to be launched in Toronto Oct. 8 two days before Lennon’s 75 birthday.

CHRIST YOU KNOW IT AIN'T EASY: JOHN AND YOKO'S BATTLE FOR PEACE

“I was intimately involved with Lennon in the amazing launch of the campaign, convinced as we were about the power of music to change the world. Lennon’s powerful appeal for peace with the current bombing, fighting and killing in the Middle East is as needed today as it was during the Vietnam war,” Yorke says. 

The celebration will feature invitees singing the peace anthem, rare never before seen photos of John Yoko at the bed-in and subsequent events, and a band playing Beatle music.

October 8 WHEN - – Media Availability and peace song 6:45 pm

Place - 3030 Dundas St. West

Celebration starts at 8:00 pm

The new CHRIST YOU KNOW IT AIN'T EASY: JOHN AND YOKO'S BATTLE FOR PEACE is available on Kobo, iBooks, Amazon, Barnes and Nobles And Goggle. In print: Burnstown Publishing.

While in Toronto, Yorke and his wife Minnie Cherry have also rereleased his books about Led Zeppelin, Van Morrison and the early Canadian Rock and Roll scene. All titles are available on Kobo and at Ritchie Yorke’s websitehttp://ritchieyorke.com

 Ritchie at left taking notes! Needs a cutline!

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For interviews, photographs and review copies. Please contact:

Stephen Weir

Stephen Weir & Associates

416-489-5868

stephen@stephenweir.com

@sweirsweir

Stephen Weir & Associates | stephen@stephenweir.com 109 Castlefield Avenue, Toronto, ON CANADA. M4R 1G5Tel: 416-489-5868 | cell: 416-801-3101  twitter: sweirsweir