Brian Stewart memoir among books shortlisted for Shaughnessy Cohen Prize

TORONTO — Broadcast journalist Brian Stewart’s memoir is one of five books in the running for this year’s Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing.

The Writers’ Trust of Canada released its short list on Wednesday, with jurors saying “On the Ground: My Life as a Foreign Correspondent” features Stewart’s “extraordinary perspective on our times and on Canada’s place in the world.”

Other books up for the award include Don Gillmor’s “On Oil,” which explores the petroleum industry’s role in the fabric of Canada; and “Encampment: Resistance, Grace, and an Unhoused Community” by Maggie Helwig, which jurors call a “necessary, on-the-ground view of Canada’s homelessness crisis.”

Rounding out the short list are “On Book Banning: Or, How the New Censorship Consensus Trivializes Art and Undermines Democracy” by Ira Wells, which the jury praises for “pairing the ridiculous with the brilliant;” and “Women Who Woke up the Law: Inside the Cases that Changed Women’s Rights in Canada” by Karin Wells, which demonstrates how recent the move toward women’s equality in Canada is.

The $40,000 award will be handed out at the annual Politics and the Pen gala in Ottawa on April 29.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 18, 2026.