Five finalists announced for $15,000 Lionel Gelber Prize for non-fiction

TORONTO – Pulitzer Prize-winning author Lawrence Wright is among the finalists for this year’s Canadian-founded Lionel Gelber Prize for books on foreign affairs.

The writer from Austin, Texas is on the short list for “Thirteen Days in September: Carter, Begin, and Sadat at Camp David” (Alfred A. Knopf).

Another nominee for the $15,000 honour is Evan Osnos of Washington for “Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth, and Faith in the New China” (Farrar, Straus and Giroux). It recently won a National Book Award.

The short list also includes Jack Fairweather of Istanbul for “The Good War: Why We Couldn’t Win the War or the Peace in Afghanistan” (Basic Books).

Serhii Plokhy of Arlington, Mass., is a nominee for “The Last Empire: The Final Days of the Soviet Union” (Basic Books).

And Ari Shavit of Israel is a contender for “My Promised Land: The Triumph and Tragedy of Israel” (Scribe Publications).

The winner will be announced March 30.

This is the 25th year for the prize, which was named after a Canadian diplomat.

It honours a “non-fiction book in English on foreign affairs that seeks to deepen public debate on significant international issues.”

This year’s jury includes Canadians William Thorsell and John Stackhouse as well as Anne Applebaum of Poland, Gary Bass of the U.S., and Brazil’s Matias Spektor.