Following a two-year pandemic postponement, Wilfrid Laurier University announced that my book In the Valleys of the Noble Beyond: In Search of the Sasquatch has been shortlisted for the 2020 Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-Fiction. The annual cash prize, administered by Wilfrid Laurier University, honours the best in Canadian creative nonfiction.

The $10,000 award was established in 1991 and recognizes Canadian writers of first or second works of creative nonfiction with Canadian significance. Laurier describes itself as the only Canadian university to bestow a nationally recognized literary award.

The two other works being considered are Samra Habib’s We Have Always Been Here and Ann Hui’s Chop Suey Nation.

Bruce Gillespie, an award juror and professor in Laurier’s Digital Media and Journalism program, writes: “The finalists for the 2020 award beautifully demonstrate the breadth of work that Canadians are producing in this genre. They include: a memoir beginning in Pakistan that goes on to explore faith, art, love and queer sexuality; a food history road trip that examines the experiences of Chinese immigrants running chop suey restaurants in small towns across Canada; and an adventure story that takes readers from the library to the rainforest to try to prove the existence of sasquatch. These are stories that will surprise and delight.”

A heartfelt thanks to Wilfrid Laurier for their consideration and the best of luck to the other nominees.