December 5, 2018 • Toronto, Ontario: For immediate Release

 

RBC Taylor Prize 2019 Longlist Revealed

The 2019 RBC Taylor Prize jury announces ten essential titles

that should be on every Canadian’s reading list this year

RBC Taylor Prize 2019 Jurors Camilla Gibb, Roy MacGregor and Beverley McLachlin today shared the longlist for the eighteenth awarding of Canada’s most prestigious non-fiction prize.

The jury reviewed over 100 books to reach this longlist and state that “It was no small task whittling down to this longlist of ten, and we anticipate many hours of re-reading and debate before we produce our short list, and, ultimately, the winner.

We found the books breath-taking in their range of topics, and happily found so many of them serve as a useful barometer for current issues, from reconciliation to political trust. There is remarkable achievement here and we hope readers will celebrate that with us.”

The longlist books for the 2019 RBC Taylor Prize are:

1.   Son of a Critch: A Childish Newfoundland Memoir, by Mark Critch, published by Viking/Penguin Canada

2.   Just Let Me Look at You: On Fatherhood, by Bill Gaston, published by Hamish Hamilton/Penguin Canada

3.   Jan in 35 Pieces: A Memoir in Music, by Ian Hampton, published by Porcupine’s Quill

4.   Lands of Lost Borders: Out of Bounds on the Silk Roads, by Kate Harris, published by Knopf Canada.

5.   All Things Consoled: A Daughter’s Memoir, by Elizabeth Hay, published by McClelland & Stewart

6.   Trust: Twenty Ways to Build a Better Country, by David Johnston, published Signal/M&S **

7.   Seeking the Fabled City: The Canadian Jewish Experience, by Allan Levine, published by McClelland and Stewart

8.   Power, Prime Ministers and the Press: The Battle for Truth on Parliament Hill, by Robert Lewis, published by Dundurn Press.

9.   Heart Berries: A Memoir, by Terese Marie Mailhot, published by Doubleday Canada

10. Mamaskatch: A Cree Coming of Age, by Darrel McLeod, published by Douglas & McIntyre.

Noreen Taylor, chair of the Charles Taylor Foundation and founder of the Prize, commented: “What an amazing breadth of offerings this year. I can hardly wait to dive into the books I haven’t already read! Looking at this list it’s definitely going to be a busy holiday. What is so interesting is that this list reflects what Canadians are experiencing, worrying about and/or enjoying currently, and reminds Canadian readers how fortunate we are to have amongst us so many gifted and unique storytellers. Here’s to our publishers and their many distinct imprints for releasing a panorama of fascinating titles, and bravo to our jurors who performed the Herculean task of selecting this remarkable long list from amongst over 100 titles.”

Vijay Parmar, president of RBC PH&N Investment Counsel, added: “Once again, we have a longlist that showcases our national collective voice and the power that storytelling has to change our understanding and challenge our perspectives. Congratulations to the 2019 longlisted authors and thanks to our esteemed jurors for their time, dedication and reflection.”

Key Dates:

 The RBC Taylor Prize Shortlist will be announced at a news conference on Wednesday, January 9, 2019, and the winner revealed at a gala luncheon on Monday March 4, 2019.

About The RBC Taylor Prize

Established in 1998 by the trustees of the Charles Taylor Foundation and first awarded in 2000, 2019 marks the eighteenth 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, each finalist for the Prize receives $5,000 and the winner receives a further $25,000. All authors are presented with a custom leather-bound version of their shortlisted book at the awards ceremony. All finalists receive promotional support for their nominated titles.

The trustees of the Charles Taylor Foundation are: Vijay Parmar, David Staines, Edward Taylor, Nadina Taylor, and Noreen Taylor. The Prize Manager is Sheila Kay.

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, Quill & Quire magazine; its in-kind sponsors are Ben McNally Books, Event Source, Toronto International Festival of Authors and the Omni King Edward Hotel.

To download high-resolution images of the longlisted authors and their book covers please go to: www.rbctaylorprize.ca/2019/rbctp_2019_longlist_covers_and_authors.zip

To download high-resolution images of the trustees and the jury please go to: www.rbctaylorprize.ca/2019/2019_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

Like the RBC Taylor Prize on Facebook At www.facebook.com/RBCTaylorPrize

** Please note that juror Beverley McLachlin recused herself from discussion on this title, as she had contributed the Foreword.

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For further information:

Media contact: Stephen Weir & Associates

Stephen Weir: 416-489-5868 | cell: 416-801-3101 | stephen@stephenweir.com

Rediscovering Peter Clapham Sheppard

Rediscovering Peter Clapham Sheppard at Ben McNally’s Books & Brunch This Sunday

TORONTO - This Sunday December 9^th Ben McNally’s Books & Brunch will give Toronto book lovers a rare opportunity to hear a talk from Art Collector and Co-Biographer Louis Gagliardi about the nearly forgotten Canadian Master Painter Peter Clapham Sheppard.  Gagliardi is one of four featured authors speaking in the Vanity Fair Ballroom of the Omni King Edward Hotel in downtown Toronto.

 

Peter Clapham Sheppard: His Life and Work, written by Canadian Art Expert Tom Smart with foreword by Louis Gagliardi, is a celebration of the rediscovery of the masterworks of Toronto-born Peter Clapham Sheppard (1879-1965), an artist who played a leading role in the founding of Canada's national school of art. A contemporary and colleague of the Group of Seven, he was one of the finest artists of his generation.

 

Although he was widely exhibited in national and important international exhibitions in his early career, over the last century Sheppard has fallen into the shadow cast by the Group of Seven. From occupying a place among a generation of artists who established a national school, he died in obscurity. Smart and Gagliardi cast light on a unique talent, an artist of his times, whose art matched the quality of the Group, but found inspiration beyond the sources that inspired his more famous contemporaries. This book is the culmination of a 30-year effort to bring Sheppard's name and art to its rightful place in this country's art history.

The Books and Brunch Series, a ticketed event from 10am – 12.30pm, is an opportunity to meet Louis Gagliardi and hear him discuss the new book and the rediscovery of the masterworks of Toronto-born artist, Peter Clapham Sheppard. He and the other authors will be signing books immediately following the Brunch.

1. The Making of the October Crisis by D’Arcy Jenish, published by Doubleday Canada.
2. Boy Wonders by Cathal Kelly, published by Doubleday Canada.
3. Machine Without Horses by Helen Humphries, published by HarperCollins
4. Peter Clapham Sheppard His Life and Work, by Tom Smart, foreword by Louis Gagliardi, published by Firefly Books

What: Books & Brunch presented by Ben McNally Books
When: Sunday December 9th, 2018 at 10:00 am
Where: Vanity Fair Ballroom, 2nd Floor, Omni King Edward Hotel. King St. East
Tickets: $55  - Must be purchased in advance Ben McNally Books 416.361.0032

A Toronto tradition this event always sells out. Tickets are now on sale

MEDIA: For further information: Media contact: Stephen Weir & Associates, Stephen Weir: 416.489.5868 | cell: 416.801.3101 | stephen@stephenweir.com

Esi Does It On Winning Book Prizes

Edugyan Wins the Giller Again for Her Novel About A Bajan Slave.

 By Stephen Weir

Esi Edugyan has won Canada’s most prestigious fiction book prize again!  Earlier this week the young novelist captured the Giller Prize for her new book Washington Black, it is the second time that she has captured the $100,000 award.

She won the prize at a black tie dinner event in Toronto on Monday. The announcement was made in front of nearly 500 members of the publishing, media and arts communities.

Washington Black tells the story of George Washington Black; an eleven-year-old field slave living on a Barbados sugar plantation. From the brutal cane plantations to the icy waters of the Canadian Arctic, from the mud-filled streets of London to the eerie deserts of Morocco, Washington Black is the tale – inspired by a true story – of a world destroyed by slavery and the search to make it whole again.

Although the book is a work of fiction, the author told the CBC that details about slavery are unfortunately true. “"I was doing a lot of research into the history of slavery in the Caribbean. The acts of brutality described in the novel are things that came directly from history. There's nothing I made up."

"I just have to say that in a climate in which so many forms of truth telling are under siege this feels like a wonderful and important celebration of words," Esi Edugyan said shortly after she learned that she had once again won Canada’s top fiction award.

Esi Edugyan made history in 2011 by being the first Black woman to win the Scotiabank Giller Prize for her novel Half-Blood Blues.  The four other finalists were;

• Patrick deWitt for his novel French Exit,
• Eric Dupont for his novel Songs for the Cold of Heart, translated by Peter McCambridge,
• Sheila Heti for her novel Motherhood,
• Thea Lim for her novel An Ocean of Minutes, 

Ms Edugyan is currently Canada’s most successful fiction writer. She has won the Giller twice, was the winner of the Women’s Prize for Fiction, was a finalist for the Writer’s Trust Prize and was shortlisted for the world’s leading literature award, the UK’s Man Booker Prize.

Born and raised in Calgary, Alberta, to Ghanaian immigrant parents, Edugyan studied creative writing at the University of Victoria BC.  She lives and writes in Victoria, she and her husband poet Steven Price are the parents of a 7-year old child.  

Canadian Manda Group, Baker & Taylor sign on with Sutherland

Sutherland House announces sales and distribution agreements in Canada and USA

(Toronto) Sutherland House, Canada’s newest publisher of quality non-fiction, is pleased to announce its sales and distribution agreements in Canada and the United States.

Domestically, Sutherland House will be distributed by the University of Toronto Press. The press’s exclusive sales agent in Canada will be Canadian Manda Group. Founded in 1977, Manda has offices in every region of the country and one of the largest sales forces anywhere in North America.

“Canadian Manda is very excited to begin working for Ken Whyte and Sutherland House,” says Carey Low, vice-president and partner at Manda. “We are proud play a part in bringing to market books that will enrich the dialog around timely and important conversations, and look forward to many bestselling books in the years to come.”

In the United States, Sutherland House will be represented for distribution and sales by Baker & Taylor, a premier publishing services agency founded in 1828.

“We are pleased to be representing Sutherland House,” says Mark Suchomel, senior vice-president. “This small publisher stands out among thousands of others due to the high level of sophistication and sharp instincts of Ken Whyte. Like Ken, the list is smart and focused and a great addition to the book industry.”

Says Kenneth Whyte, publisher and editor of Sutherland House, “We are most appreciative of the support and enthusiasm of UTP, Manda, and Baker & Taylor. To reach sales and distribution agreements with these pillars of the industry simply on the strength of our list, without having produced any sales figures yet, is gratifying. We have put a lot of work into our list.”

Sutherland House, based in Toronto, will release eight books in 2019. It is accepting proposals and manuscripts from writers everywhere.

http://sutherlandhousebooks.com

For more information contact:

STEPHEN WEIR
Stephen Weir & Associates | stephen@stephenweir.com
109 Castlefield Avenue, Toronto, ON
CANADA. M4R 1G5
Tel: 416-489-5868 | cell: 416-801-3101
www.stephenweir.com twitter: sweirsweir

Late artist no longer obscure and forgotten

New Book about Peter Clapham Sheppard is launched in Toronto - Facebook postings

Collector Louis Gagilardi

By Stephen Weir 

Canadian curator and art author Tom Smart has written the long overdue first book about the late Toronto artist Sheppard. Peter Clapham Sheppard: His Life and Work, launched Friday, fittingly at Toronto's Arts & Letters Club on Elm Street.

Tom Smart at podium

Pictured Tom talks about Sheppard’s ability to arrest moments in the built world! The Firefly book is available in bookstore and on-line (I do know that Ben McNally's on Bay Street has copies).
Artist would have faded into obscurity if it wasn't for Woodbridge retired teacher and avid Sheppard collector, Louis Gagliardi (pictured at launch)
As well the Weekend Globe and Mail is always a good read but his weekend's paper is worth picking up for a major feature by Gregory Humenick about the undiscovered Peter Clapham Sheppard. Group of Seven contemporary died unknown and broke. 

Elizabeth Street by Sheppard. Painting was used in Globe story

Ring of Peace around City Shul in Toronto

Media Advisory

DATE: SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2018

TIME: 9:30 A.M.

WHERE: 300 BLOOR STREET WEST, TORONTO

post event pick-up

In response to the murders of eleven worshippers at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, the Christian and Muslim faith communities have come together in Toronto to form a ring of peace around the Bloor Street United Church (300 Bloor Street West) where the congregants of City Shul will be worshipping. In February 2017, the Christian and Jewish communities came together to form a ring of peace around the Islamic Information and Dawah Centre for their first day of prayers after the murders in Quebec City on January 27.

 

Toronto Sun TV/Print

It is expected that hundreds of people will stand peaceful watch from 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. on both sides of Bloor Street, from Spadina to Huron, and Huron to Prince Arthur.

  

The Ring of Peace will conclude at 10:30. All are asked to depart at this time. The Shabbat for Solidarity is for the members of City Shul - please do not enter the house of worship following the Ring of Peace.

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good people should do nothing.” – a twenty-first century paraphrasing of Edmund Burke.

Front Page Toronto Star

For more information, please contact:

The Reverend Canon Gary van der Meer at St. Anne's Church: gary.vandermeer@saintanne.ca

Marc Côté: m.cote@cormorantbooks.com or 416 925 8887, x 200

Stephen Weir: | stephen@stephenweir.com
Tel: 416-489-5868 | cell: 416-801-3101 

CBC National News TV

King and Shields Talk Water Lilies (and Claude Monet)

ROSS KING DELIVERS THE 2018 RBC Taylor Prize Talk at Toronto International Festival of Authors Sunday October 28th, 2 pm. Brigantine Room, 205 Queens Quay West.

For immediate release – Art historian, Ross King, winner of the 2017 RBC Taylor Prize will discuss his award-winning book, Mad Enchantment: Claude Monet at the Painting of the Water Lilies, with AGO’s Caroline Shields, at the Toronto International Festival of Authors, Sunday October 28th, at 2pm. The book tells the true story of Manet’s iconic paintings at Giverny, widely touted as the last hurrah of Impressionism, and  also discusses Manet’s personal turmoil during WW1 and the last years of his life.  He will discuss this with Caroline Shields, Asst Curator of European Art at the Art Gallery of Ontario, and a specialist in 19thCentury European Art. Tickets and information are available at www.festivalofauthors.ca. 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 $5,000 for each finalist, and a further $25,000 for the winner. All authors are presented with a custom leatherbound version of their shortlisted book at the awards ceremony. The Prize provides all the finalists with promotional support to help all of the nominated books to stand out in the media, bookstores, and libraries. Earlier this year, Tanya Talaga won the 2018 RBC Taylor Prize for her book Seven Fallen Feathers: Racism, Death and Hard Truths in a Northern City, published by House of Anansi Press.