The Winner of the Writers' Trust of Canada for 2011

The winner of the Hilary Weston Writers' Trust of Canada for Non-fiction has been announced. Charles Foran, the author of Mordecai: The Life & Times is the winner of the $60,000 prize. 

The jury citation of this winning book states:


Charles Foran’s biography, Mordecai: The Life & Times, is an epic work of scholarship and energy, capturing the career and life of the Montreal writer, Mordecai Richler, with a majesty that doesn’t betray the wit and sincerity of Canada’s most famous literary contrarian. Mordecai delivers an authentic portrait of a writer who could be both tragic and gut-busting funny, a loving family man and defender of human rights, who could also snap off barbed quips infuriating both Quebec and anglo nationalists, as well as his fellow writers, and even his own Jewish community in Montreal. To portray this multi-faced life with such amazing ease signals the quality of Mordecai. It’s a big book, inclusive, intelligent, and sometimes sad. Charles Foran never wears his research on his sleeve, easing it near-invisibly into the web of this great life.Mordecai is well written, exciting to read, even-handed, and magisterial.  -The Writers' Trust of Canada website, November 2, 2011