Biography of HBC co-founder claims RBC Taylor Prize

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Mark Bourrie’s Bush Runner: The Adventures of Pierre-Esprit Radisson was named the winner of the RBC Taylor Prize for excellence in literary non-fiction at an event held early in March.

It had earlier been announced that this would be the last edition of the Taylor Prize, initially awarded in 2000 in honour of Canadian writer Charles Taylor. Bourrie’s biography of Pierre-Esprit Radisson, a Hudson’s Bay Company co-founder, was excerpted in the June-July 2019 issue of Canada’s History magazine. You can read the excerpt online.

Early in April, finalists were announced for the 2020 J.W. Dafoe Book Prize for the best book on Canada, Canadians, or Canada’s place in the world — and they include three Canadian history titles: Canada on the United Nations Security Council: A Small Power on a Large Stage, by Adam Chapnick; The Good Fight: Marcel Cadieux and Canadian Diplomacy, by Brendan Kelly; and Moved by the State: Forced Relocation and Making a Good Life in Postwar Canada, by Tina Loo.

Meanwhile, the Canadian Historical Association has announced the finalists for the CHA Best Scholarly Book in Canadian History Prize, and Loo’s book Moved by the State is included on that list.

The other recognized books are: Radical Medicine: The International Origins of Socialized Health Care in Canada, by Esyllt W. Jones; Assembling Unity: Indigenous Politics, Gender, and the Union of BC Indian Chiefs, by Sarah A. Nickel; Wounded Feelings: Litigating Emotions in Quebec, 1870–1950, by Eric H. Reiter; Courtiers et entrepreneurs: Le courtage financier au Québec, 1867–1987, by Marc Vallières; and At the Bridge: James Teit and an Anthropology of Belonging, by Wendy Wickwire.

As always, Canadian history titles are well-represented at this year’s regional book prizes. Radical Medicine and At the Bridge have also been named finalists for regional book awards — the former in Manitoba and the latter in British Columbia. And Strangers in the House: A Prairie Story of Bigotry and Belonging, by Candace Savage, is a finalist for three awards in Saskatchewan.