Tim Cook, Chantal Hebert among five finalists for John W. Dafoe Book Prize

WINNIPEG – Military historian Tim Cook and political columnist Chantal Hebert are up for another major literary award — this time the $10,000 John W. Dafoe Book Prize.

Cook is a finalist for “The Necessary War Vol 1: Canadians Fighting the Second World War 1939-1943” (Penguin Canada), which was also on the long list for the RBC Taylor Prize and the B.C. National Award for Canadian Non-Fiction.

And Hebert is a finalist with “The Morning After: The 1995 Quebec Referendum and the Day that Almost Was” (Knopf Canada), which was also a finalist for the Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing and the B.C. National Award.

The John W. Dafoe Book Prize short list also includes:

— Terry Gould for “Worth Dying For: Canada’s Mission to Train Police in the World’s Failing States” (Random House Canada)

— David Halton for “Dispatches From the Front: The Life of Matthew Halton, Canada’s Voice at War” (McClelland & Stewart)

— Shelley Wright for “Our Ice is Vanishing/Skiuvut Nunguliqtuq: A History of Inuit, Newcomers, and Climate Change” (McGill-Queens University Press)

The winner will be announced later in the spring. The award will be presented at the J.W. Dafoe Foundation’s Annual Book Prize Dinner in May.

The prize, which honours non-fiction about Canada, is named after a prominent Canadian editor.