Author: Ariel Gordon

We are proud to announce the 2025 J.W. Dafoe Book Prize Shortlist!

Mark Bourrie’s Crosses in the Sky
Crystal Gail Fraser’s By Strength, We Are Still Here
Ken McGoogan’s Shadows of Tyranny
Jody Wilson-Raybould and Roshan Danesh’s Reconciling History
Gerald Friesen’s The Honourable John Norquay

Congratulations to all! Before we announce the winner on October 14th, we will be highlighting each remarkable title on our socials and website and sharing some insight as to why our jury members selected them for the shortlist.

Thank you again to our wonderful jurors Dale Barbour, Patricia Bovey, and Gregory Mason.

From ground zero of this country’s most important project: reconciliation.

Niigaan Sinclair has been called provocative, revolutionary, and one of this country’s most influential thinkers on the issues impacting Indigenous cultures, communities, and reconciliation in Canada. In his debut collection of stories, observations, and thoughts about Winnipeg, the place he calls “ground zero” of Canada’s future, read about the complex history and contributions of this place alongside the radical solutions to injustice and violence found here, presenting solutions for a country that has forgotten principles of treaty and inclusivity. It is here, in the place where Canada began—where the land, water, people, and animals meet— that a path “from the centre” is happening for all to see.

At a crucial and fragile moment in Canada’s long history with Indigenous peoples, one of our most essential writers begins at the centre, capturing a web spanning centuries of community, art, and resistance.

Based on years’ worth of columns, Niigaan Sinclair delivers a defining essay collection on the resilience of Indigenous peoples. Here, we meet the creators, leaders, and everyday people preserving the beauty of their heritage one day at a time. But we also meet the ugliest side of colonialism, the Indian Act, and the communities who suffer most from its atrocities.

Sinclair uses the story of Winnipeg to illuminate the reality of Indigenous life all over what is called Canada. This is a book that demands change and celebrates those fighting for it, that reminds us of what must be reconciled and holds accountable those who must do the work. It’s a book that reminds us of the power that comes from loving a place, even as that place is violently taken away from you, and the magic of fighting your way back to it.

Niigaanwewidam James Sinclair is Anishinaabe (St. Peter’s/Little Peguis) and an Assistant Professor at the University of Manitoba. He is a regular commentator on Indigenous issues on CTV, CBC, and APTN, and his written work can be found in the pages of The Exile Edition of Native Canadian Fiction and Drama, newspapers like The Guardian, and online with CBC Books: Canada Writes. Niigaan is the co-editor of the award-winning Manitowapow: Aboriginal Writings from the Land of Water (Highwater Press, 2011) and Centering Anishinaabeg Studies: Understanding the World Through Stories (Michigan State University Press, 2013), and is the Editorial Director of The Debwe Series with Portage and Main Press. Niigan obtained his BA in Education at the University of Winnipeg, before completing an MA in Native- and African-American literatures at the University of Oklahoma, and a PhD in First Nations and American Literatures from the University of British Columbia.

Canada’s longest war (2001-2014) pushed military, diplomatic,  development and humanitarian organizations to their limits. Was it all in vain?

Based on interviews with twenty-one key decision-makers and participants, many of whom are speaking publicly for the first time, Unwinnable Peace recounts the personal and professional challenges faced by individuals deeply committed to securing and rebuilding Kandahar province.

Diplomats planting seeds of democracy in a society dominated by warlords

• Aid workers bringing relief and development to shattered communities
• Mounties struggling to improve a corrupt and illiterate police force
• A young foreign service officer who suffered life-changing injuries
• Prison experts bringing international standards to a jail used to torture
• The Canadian and Afghan generals who fought the Taliban
• An Afghan–Canadian who risked his life to govern the Province of Kandahar
• Interpreters desperate to save their families from retribution

These are the men and women who are still struggling to reconcile their sacrifices with the eventual Taliban victory.

A veteran diplomat and the last Representative of Canada in Kandahar, the author combines his personal experiences with those of his colleagues (Afghan and Canadian) to examine  Canada’s mission to Afghanistan at a human level.

This is the story of the collision of two worlds. In the early 1600s, the Jesuits—the Catholic Church’s most ferocious warriors for Christ—tried to create their own nation on the Great Lakes and turn the Huron (Wendat) Confederacy into a model Jesuit state. At the centre of their campaign was missionary Jean de Brébeuf, a mystic who sought to die a martyr’s death. He lived among a proud people who valued kindness and rights for all, especially women. In the end, Huronia was destroyed. Brébeuf became a Catholic saint, and the Jesuit’s “martyrdom” became one of the founding myths of Canada.

In this first secular biography of Brébeuf, historian Mark Bourrie, bestselling author of Bush Runner: The Adventures of Pierre-Esprit Radisson, recounts the missionary’s fascinating life and tells the tragic story of the remarkable people he lived among. Drawing on the letters and documents of the time—including Brébeuf’s accounts of his bizarre spirituality—and modern studies of the Jesuits, Bourrie shows how Huron leaders tried to navigate this new world and the people struggled to cope as their nation came apart. Riveting, clearly told, and deeply researched, Crosses in the Sky is an essential addition to—and expansion of—Canadian history.

Bestselling historian and author Ken McGoogan delves into dictatorships of the twentieth century to sound this crucial alarm about the possibility of democratic collapse in the US and its implications for Canada.

Twentieth-century novels such as George Orwell’s 1984 and Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale produced visions of future dystopia that rang with echoes of past tyrannies. Always implied was a warning that history’s worst chapters are never truly closed, and that we must not fail—as many of our forebears did—to recognize that the threat of totalitarianism cannot simply be wished away.

Shadows of Tyranny, an alarming and engrossing work of non-fiction from acclaimed Canadian author Ken McGoogan, draws on this sense of looping history to show how figures like Donald Trump replay many aspects of the authoritarianism that spread in the middle of the last century. Calling not only on Orwell and Atwood, but also on H.G. Wells, Yevgeny Zamyatin, Jack London and Hannah Arendt, McGoogan traces the ways democracy succumbed to paranoia, polarization, scapegoating and demagoguery less than a hundred years ago. These same forces, he argues, are now driving a far-right movement in the United States that seems devoted to using Trump’s warped charisma as a “wrecking ball” to clear the way for autocracy closely resembling the dictatorships that stoked the Second World War.

With this prospect, McGoogan’s central questions become all the more pressing: How should Canadians respond, officially and individually, to the possibility of democratic collapse in our powerful neighbour to the south? Is talk of manifest destiny from right-wing American firebrands like Tucker Carlson just chatter for the sake of notoriety? Or is it a hint of the expansionist urges that always lie at the heart of authoritarianism, and that may one day point the American military machine in our direction on the pretext of “liberating” us?

In the cautionary spirit of earlier visionary works, Shadows of Tyranny offers a galvanizing image of a dark possible future, as well as an urgent call to act in the belief that we still have the time and ability to ward it off.

Ken McGoogan is the globe-trotting Canadian author of seventeen books—mostly nonfiction narratives but also novels and memoirs. His bestselling titles include Searching for Franklin, Fatal Passage, Lady Franklin’s Revenge, and Canada’s Undeclared War: Fighting Words from the Literary Trenches. His most recent release, Shadows of Tyranny: Defending Democracy in an Age of Dictatorship, explores how figures like Donald Trump replay many aspects of the authoritarianism that spread in the middle of the last century.

McGoogan’s many accolades include the Pierre Berton Award for Popular History and the University of British Columbia Medal for Canadian Biography. A fellow of the Explorers Club and the Royal Canadian Geographical Society, McGoogan sails as a resource historian with Adventure Canada. He was born in Montreal, has lived in towns and cities across the country, and now resides in Guelph, ON.

John Norquay, orphan and prodigy, was a leader among the Scots Cree peoples of western Canada. Born in the Red River Settlement, he farmed, hunted, traded, and taught school before becoming a legislator, cabinet minister, and, from 1878 to 1887, premier of Manitoba.

Once described as Louis Riel’s alter ego, he skirmished with prime minister John A. Macdonald, clashed with railway baron George Stephen, and endured racist taunts while championing the interests of the Prairie West in battles with investment bankers, Ottawa politicians, and the CPR. His contributions to the development of Canada’s federal system and his dealings with issues of race and racism deserve attention today.

Recounted here by Canadian historian Gerald Friesen, Norquay’s life story ignites contemporary conversations around the nature of empire and Canada’s own imperial past. Drawing extensively on recently opened letters and financial papers that offer new insights into his business, family, and political life, Friesen reveals Norquay to be a thoughtful statesman and generous patriarch. This masterful biography of the Premier from Red River sheds welcome light on a neglected historical figure and a tumultuous time for Canada and Manitoba.

M.G. Vassanji has been exploring identity and belonging for over three decades, drawing on his own eclectic upbringing and intimate understanding of the unique challenges and perspectives born from leaving one’s home and settling in a new land. The question of how to configure and see oneself within this new land, and within the larger world that’s opened up, is a constant, nagging challenge. In today’s world, possessing multiple identities has become a commonplace concept. But what does it mean to truly belong—to a place, a community, a faith . . . a history? Can we ever belong in our new home? Did we ever belong in the home we left? Where exactly do we belong? For many, the answer is nowhere, exactly.

Combining brilliant prose, thoughtful, candid observation, and a lifetime of exploring how we as individuals are shaped by the places and communities in which we have lived and the histories that haunt them, Nowhere, Exactly examines with exquisite sensitivity the space between identity and belonging, the immigrant or exile’s experience of both loss and gain, and the weight of memory and nostalgia, and of guilt and hope felt by so many of those who leave their homes in search of new ones, for one reason or another.

M.G. Vassanji is the author of ten novels, three collections of short stories, a travel memoir about India, a memoir of East Africa, and a biography of Mordecai Richler. He is twice winner of the Giller Prize (1994, 2003) for best work of fiction in Canada; the Governor General’s Prize (2009) for best work of nonfiction; the Harbourfront Festival Prize; the Commonwealth First Book Prize (Africa, 1990); and the Bressani Prize. The Assassin’s Song was shortlisted for the Giller Prize, the Governor General’s Prize, the Writers Trust Award, and India’s Crossword Prize. Nostalgia, his dystopian novel, was a finalist for CBC’s Canada Reads. His work has been translated into Arabic, Dutch, French, German, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Latvian, Portuguese, Spanish, Turkish, and Swahili. Vassanji has given lectures worldwide and written many essays, including introductions to the works of Robertson Davies, Anita Desai, and Mordecai Richler, and the autobiography of Mahatma Gandhi. In June 2015, MG Vassanji was awarded the Canada Council Molson Prize for the Arts.

The John Wesley Dafoe Foundation is once again pleased to receive submissions for its annual Book Prize. The 2026 J.W. Dafoe Book Prize, valued at $12,000, will be awarded to a publication with a 2025 imprint “. . . for distinguished writing by Canadians, or authors resident in Canada, that contributes to the understanding of Canada, Canadians, and/or Canada’s place in the world.” Co- or multiple authored books are eligible, but not edited books consisting of chapters from many different authors.

A nominal submission fee of $50 per entry is required. To nominate a book(s), publishers and individuals:

1) Submit four copies of each book nominated;

2) Provide the appropriate submission fee ($50 per title) in cheque form payable to the J.W. Dafoe Foundation;

3) Send books and fees to Dr. Andrea Rounce, Honorary Secretary, The J.W. Dafoe Foundation, c/o 635 Oakenwald Avenue, Winnipeg, MB, R3T 1M3;

4) Meet one of two submission deadlines: Deadline for submission (ie receipt of books)
is November 14, 2025 for books published between January 1 and November 1 2025. For books published between November 1 and December 31, 2025, deadline for submission is January 16, 2026; and

5) Send an email with the publisher’s contact information (name/email/phone number) and
the book title(s) being nominated to Dr. Andrea Rounce at dafoefoundation@gmail.com

6) You will be notified when the title(s) submitted (with payment) have been received.

Formal announcement of the short list will happen in spring 2026, followed by the announcement of the winner. The Prize will be formally awarded to the author(s) at the Annual J.W. Dafoe Book Prize dinner.

Questions about submission eligibility or process can be sent to Dr. Andrea Rounce at dafoefoundation@gmail.com.

Building a Special Relationship examines an under-appreciated time in foreign relations between the United States and Canada during the 1950s, when North American officials formed a culture of bilateral cooperation under the shadow of a growing Cold War.

This work asserts that the Eisenhower era was critical to the evolution of diplomatic dealings between Canada and America. Under President Eisenhower and Prime Ministers St. Laurent and Diefenbaker, policy makers collaborating in Ottawa and Washington achieved what authors Asa McKercher and Michael D. Stevenson deem to be “tolerant accommodation” on significant issues of the day. Despite often disagreeing on their path forward but by embracing shared political ideologies and goals, both nations found common ground on matters such as defence, foreign policy, economic growth, and natural resource management.

Building a Special Relationship is a significant contribution to the scholarly understanding of Canadian diplomacy during a formative era for Ottawa. Drawing on a wide array of archival sources, this book presents a vital new interpretation of how North American diplomacy in the Eisenhower years continues to influence what is often characterized as the “special relationship” between Canada and the United States.

Historians, scholars, and readers of diplomacy, political history, and international relations will find keen new insights in Building a Special Relationship’s analysis of an integral period in North American history.

Since Confederation, Canadian prime ministers have consciously constructed the national story. Each created shared narratives, formulating and reformulating a series of unifying national ideas that served to keep this geographically large, ethnically diverse, and regionalized nation together. This book is about those narratives and stories.

Canada’s Prime Ministers and the Shaping of a National Identity offers a unique telling of Canada’s post–Second World War political history. Raymond B. Blake shows how prime ministers were identity entrepreneurs: regardless of political stripe, they worked to build national unity, forged a citizenship based on inclusion, and defined a place for Canada in the world. They created for citizens an ideal image of what the nation stands for and the path it should follow. Through their differences and similarities, they collectively told a national story of Canada as a modern, progressive, liberal state, and portrayed a strong commitment to inclusion coupled with a deep respect for diversity and difference, and a fundamental belief in universal rights and freedoms.

This definitive analysis of prime ministerial speeches and rhetoric is grounded in meticulous archival, primary document, and secondary literature research, and utilizes the latest theoretical approaches in the study of rhetoric, nationalism, and identity. Ultimately, Raymond Blake provides readers with a new way to see and understand what Canada is, and what holds us together as a nation.

This incredibly thorough analysis of the words of prime ministers will find an appreciative audience among scholars and students in Canadian and political history, and political science and rhetoric studies – and readers of Canadian history will discover a new take on Canada’s development as a nation.