Charlotte Gray, Thomas King make final cut for Taylor non-fiction prize

TORONTO – Ottawa resident Charlotte Gray and Thomas King of Guelph, Ont., are among the finalists for the 2014 RBC Taylor Prize for excellence in non-fiction.

The award was previously called the Charles Taylor prize and is worth $25,000.

Gray is nominated for “The Massey Murder: A Maid, Her Master, and the Trial That Shocked a Country” while King is up for “The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People in North America.”

Rounding out the short list is Vancouver’s J.B. MacKinnon for “The Once and Future World: Nature As It Was, As It Is, As It Could Be”; Afghanistan-based Globe and Mail reporter Graeme Smith for “The Dogs Are Eating Them Now: Our War in Afghanistan” and David Stouck of Vancouver for Arthur Erickson: An Architect’s Life.

The short list was chosen from a long list of 12 titles.

In all, 124 Canadian-authored non-fiction books were submitted by 45 publishers. The winner will be announced March 10.