Toronto-based author and journalist Alexandra Shimo is among twelve authors whose work is longlisted for the 2017 RBC Taylor Prize, which honours the year’s best literary non-fiction.

Invisible North: The Search for Answers on a Troubled Reserve is a vivid first-person account of Shimo’s time on a remote First Nations reserve that illuminates a difficult and oft-ignored history.  Invisible North has also been named to the shortlist for both the BC National Award for Canadian Non-Fiction and the Speaker’s Book Award.

The RBC Taylor Prize jurors note: “Each of these titles represents a contribution: whether it is to knowledge, to how we understand ourselves, or to how we might make sense of our complicated planet. As a whole, this list reveals a world of war, survival, art, whales, and wireless connectivity—people playing games and people suffering harm. We applaud these authors who devoted such energy, scholarship, and sympathy to their subjects. All of these books should be read.”

The RBC Taylor Prize is presented by the Charles Taylor Foundation, which commemorates Charles Taylor’s pursuit of excellence in the field of literary non-fiction. The shortlist will be announced 11 January 2017, and the winner announced at a gala awards luncheon on 6 March  2017  in Toronto.