Among the list of 2016 Governor General’s Literary Award winners announced yesterday by the Canada Council for the Arts was Saskatoon historian Bill Waiser in the non-fiction category.
In its statement, the jury said, “From its first page, Bill Waiser’s A World We Have Lost: Saskatchewan Before 1905 surprises the reader with its reconsideration of Canada. In a sweeping blend of narrative, historical detail, and compelling images, Waiser refocuses the country’s story by putting Indigenous peoples and environmental concerns in the foreground.”
Published earlier this year by Fifth House Publishers, the book is distributed by Fitzhenry & Whiteside. It complements Mr. Waiser’s award-winning centennial history of the province, Saskatchewan: A New History.
The Canada Council for the Arts administers the awards. Each winner, chosen by peer assessment committees, receives $25,000.
The awards will be presented by Governor General David Johnston in a ceremony at Rideau Hall in Ottawa on November 30.
