Charles Foran Wins Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction
Charles Foran's biography, Mordecai: The Life & Times has won the Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction. The book tells the life story of iconic Canadian journalist, essayist and author Mordecai Richler. Richler won many literary awards, as well as awards for his children's books.
Foran wrote the biography with the support of the Richler family. He had full access to the restricted archive of 1,000 letters housed at the University of Calgary.
The jury had this to say about the winning entry:
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 book is available at a discount at Amazon.com.
