The Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Non-Fiction announced on Monday its first-ever “long list” of titles contending for its top honour in 2012.

The short list will be announced on Jan. 10, 2012 and the winner on March 5, 2012.

Contenders for the $25,000 prize include titles by three WCA authors:

The Patrol: Seven Days in the Life of a Canadian Soldier in Afghanistan, by Ryan Flavelle

Nation Maker: Sir John A. MacDonald: His Life, Our Times Volume Two: 1867-1891, by Richard Gwyn

Bad Animals: A Father’s Accidental Education in Autism, by Joel Yanofsky

WCA would like to congratulate all those nominated.

WCA is totally thrilled to announce that Ian Brown’s stunning The Boy in the Moon: A Father’s Journey to Understand His Extraordinary Son was named one of the New York Times’ Top Ten Books of the Year.

For more information, please visit:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/11/books/10-best-books-of-2011.html?_r=1&hp

And for Ian’s NYT review, please visit:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/08/books/review/book-review-the-boy-in-the-moon-by-ian-brown.html?_r=1

WCA is thrilled to report that five WCA titles have been named to The Globe & Mail’s Top 100 Books of 2011 list. The list follows:

Into the Heart of the Country, by Pauline Holdstock

Better Living Through Plastic Explosives, by Zsuzsi Gartner

Alone in the Classroom, by Elizabeth Hay

Winter: Five Windows on the Season – the CBC Massey Lectures, by Adam Gopnik

Nation Maker: Sir John A. Macdonald: His Life, Our Times, Volume Two: 1867 -1891, by Richard Gwyn

For more information, please visit:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/the-globe-100-the-very-best-books-of-2011/article2248133/

WCA is happy to announce that Nation Maker: Sir John A. Macdonald: His Life, Our Times, Volume Two: 1867–1891 by Richard Gwyn (Random House Canada) has been named a 2011 Book of the Year by Quill and Quire.

For more information, please visit:

http://www.quillandquire.com/blog/index.php/2011/11/29/books-of-the-year-2011-non-fiction/nationmakerjacket235w/

WCA is happy to announce that The Water Rat of Wanchai by Ian Hamilton has been listed as one of the top 15 books of 2011 by Quill & Quire.

For more information, please visit:

http://www.quillandquire.com/blog/index.php/2011/11/28/books-of-the-year
-2011-fiction/water-rat-of-wanchai/

WCA is thrilled to announce that Joel Yanofsky’s Bad Animals has won the Mavis Gallant Prize for Non-fiction from the Quebec Writers Federation.

WCA is happy to announce that Heather Hart-Sussman’s Noni Says No has been nominated by the Ontario Librarians Association for a Blue Spruce in the Ontario Library Association’s Forest of Reading.

For more information about the author, please visit: http://www.heatherhartt.com/home/

WCA is happy to announce that Karma by Cathy Ostlere has been named a Best Book of 2011 by Booklist.

WCA is thrilled to announce that Trevor Cole has won the Hamilton Arts Council Literary Award for Best Fiction Book for Practical Jean.

WCA would like to congratulate Ian Brown for having The Boy in the Moon: A Father’s Journey to Understand His Extraordinary Son named one of The New York Times 100 Notable Books of 2011.

For the full list, please visit:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/22/books/review/100-notable-books-of-2011.html?pagewanted=3&_r=1

And for Ian’s NYT review, please visit:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/08/books/review/book-review-the-boy-in-the-moon-by-ian-brown.html?_r=1