Harold R. Johnson, Elizabeth Renzetti and Mark Sakamoto to jury 2019 CBC Nonfiction Prize
Dionne Codrington | | Posted: February 5, 2019 3:21 PM | Last Updated: February 5, 2019
The prize is awarded to Canadian writers for unpublished works of nonfiction. The winning author will receive $6,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts, attend a two-week writing residency at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity and have their work published on CBC Books. Four finalists will win $1,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts and have their work published on CBC Books.
The deadline to submit is Feb. 28, 2019. If you're interested in entering, you can do that here.
The finalists will be announced in the fall.
Harold R. Johnson is a former lawyer and the author of several books, including fiction and nonfiction. His nonfiction book Firewater: How Alcohol Is Killing My People (and Yours) was a finalist for the Governor General's Literary Award for nonfiction. His novel Corvus made the the Canada Reads 2019 longlist. Johnson is a graduate of Harvard Law School and managed a private practice for several years before becoming a Crown prosecutor. Johnson is a member of the Montreal Lake Cree Nation and lives in the north end of Saskatchewan, with his wife, Joan. His most recent book is the memoir Clifford.
Elizabeth Renzetti is a bestselling Canadian author and has been a journalist for more than two decades. Her column runs weekly in the Globe and Mail, where she is also a feature writer. Her first novel, Based on a True Story, was shortlisted for the 2014 Kobo Emerging Writer Award. Renzetti's latest book, a collection of essays about contemporary feminism called Shrewed: A Wry and Closely Observed Look at the Lives of Women and Girls, became a national bestseller.
Mark Sakamoto is the author of the memoir Forgiveness: A Gift from my Grandparents, which won Canada Reads 2018, when it was defended by Jeanne Beker. A lawyer by training, Sakamoto has worn many different hats from working in live music promotion to serving as a senior political advisor in Ottawa. He is now the executive vice-president for Think Research. He lives in Toronto with his wife and their two daughters.
The 2018 CBC Nonfiction Prize winner was Sandra Murdock for her personal essay Easy Family Dinners.
Other past CBC Literary Prize winners include Michael Winter, Frances Itani, Carol Shields and Michael Ondaatje.