LONDON (AP) — A book about a fire that ravaged a Canadian city and has been called a portent of climate chaos won Britain’s leading nonfiction book prize on Thursday.
John Vaillant’s “Fire Weather: A True Story from a Hotter World” was awarded the 50,000 pound ($62,000) Baillie Gifford Prize at a ceremony in London.
Last year’s prize winner, Katherine Rundell, gave her prize money for “Super-Infinite: The Transformations of John Donne” to a conservation charity.
Historian Ruth Scurr, who was on the panel, said she did not feel “compromised” as a judge of the prize.
“I have no qualms at all about being an independent judge on a book prize, and I am personally thrilled that the winner is going to draw attention to this subject,” she said.
Persons:
Britain’s, John Vaillant’s, Baillie Gifford, Frederick Studemann, Vaillant, “, David, ”, Siddhartha Mukherjee’s “, Katherine Rundell, John Donne ”, Ruth Scurr
Organizations:
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Locations:
Canadian, London, British Columbia, Fort McMurray, U.S