Tanya Talaga

For the first time in its 22-year history, five women have been shortlisted for the Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction. The $60,000 prize is the largest award for non-fiction writing in Canada.

The shortlisted works cover Indigenous culture and the ramifications of colonialism, immigration and intersectional Canadian cultural identity, and mental health. They were selected by a three-member jury: writer, performer, and musician Ivan Coyote, naturalist and writer Trevor Herriot, and essayist and translator Manjushree Thapa.

The winner will be announced at the Writer’s Trust Awards in Toronto on Nov. 5. The event will be hosted by writer Catherine Hernandez.

The complete shortlist follows:

• A Mind Spread Out on the Ground, Alicia Elliott (Doubleday Canada)
• Hello I Want to Die Please Fix Me: Depression in the First Person, Anna Mehler Paperny (Random House Canada)
• All Our Relations: Finding the Path Forward, Tanya Talaga (House of Anansi Press)
• The Art of Leaving: A Memoir, Ayelet Tsabari (HarperCollins)
• Older Sister. Not Necessarily Related.: A Memoir, Jenny Heijun Wills (McClelland & Stewart)