Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing: Highlights from this year’s finalists

Series Contributors:
Photo courtesy Writers’ Trust of Canada

Each year, the Writers’ Trust of Canada awards $25,000 for a work of literary non-fiction that has the potential “to shape or influence thinking on Canadian political life.”   This year’s Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing will be awarded on April 20 at the Politics and the Pen event in Ottawa.

In advance of the event, OpenCanada is running excerpts from all five finalists: Stephen Harper, by John Ibbitson; Slick Water: Fracking and One Insider’s Stand Against the World’s Most Powerful Industry, by Andrew Nikiforuk; Grit: The Life and Politics of Paul Martin Sr., by Greg Donaghy; The Right to Be Cold: One Woman’s Story of Protecting Her Culture, the Arctic, and the Whole Planet, by Sheila Watt-Cloutier; and O.D. Skelton: A Portrait of Canadian Ambition, by Norman Hillmer.

Update: John Ibbitson was awarded the prize April 20 in Ottawa for his book, Stephen Harper.


In the series

Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing: A most influential public servant

Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing: A most influential public servant

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One of five finalists, here’s an excerpt of Norman Hillmer’s O.D. Skelton: A Portrait of Canadian Ambition.

Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing: Fighting for the right to be cold

Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing: Fighting for the right to be cold

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OpenCanada is featuring excerpts from all
five Shaughnessy Cohen finalists this week. Here is
Sheila Watt-Cloutier’s The
Right to Be Cold: One Woman’s Story of Protecting Her Culture, the Arctic, and
the Whole Planet
.

Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing: In appreciation of Paul Martin Sr.

Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing: In appreciation of Paul Martin Sr.

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OpenCanada is featuring excerpts from
all five Shaughnessy Cohen finalists this week. This is
Greg
Donaghy’s Grit: The Life and Politics of Paul Martin Sr.

Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing: An insider’s stand against fracking

Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing: An insider’s stand against fracking

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OpenCanada is featuring excerpts from all five Shaughnessy Cohen finalists this week. Today, Andrew Nikiforuk’s Slick Water: Fracking and One Insider’s Stand Against the World’s Most
Powerful Industry.
 

Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing: Inside the mind of Stephen Harper

Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing: Inside the mind of Stephen Harper

By:

In honour of the 2015 Shaughnessy Cohen
Prize, OpenCanada is running excerpts from all five finalists.
Today, John Ibbitson’s biography of Stephen Harper.