Image: Cundill History Prize
By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson
Also from Canada today:
IFFRO Calls on Ottawa’s Lawmakers To Reform Its Damaging Copyright Act
A Winner Is To Be Named on October 30
The third month of late-summer and autumn international book and publishing contest announcements thunders on, with today’s (October 3) announcement of the Cundill History Prize‘s three finalists.
Having named a longlist in August and a shortlist in September, this valuable program now returns in October, asking for your attention once again, this time to its traditionally announced trio of “finalist” authors.
So following the round of 13 and then the round of six, we arrive today at the semifinals of this tournament played at Montreal’s McGill University—and the promise of a winner to be named at last on October 30.
The Cundill’s US75,000 purse—it’s correct that this is paid in US dollars, not Canadian dollars, giving it extra value—is augmented by a handsome US$10,000 for each finalist.
Rana Mitter
This time, in his monthly statements on the still-narrowing list, the jury chair Rana Mitter is quoted saying, “The fierce urgency of history: that’s the force that runs through all three of our Cundill finalists. Each one is a brilliantly crafted, deeply researched work of historical scholarship.
“But each also speaks to issues that are still very much with us in the world of the 21st century – tense geopolitics, questions of law, rights, and society, and above all, the complex and often counterintuitive interactions of human beings in the past that illuminate the present.”
The Cundill History Prize 2024 Shortlist
| Author | Title | Publisher / Imprint |
| Gary J. Bass | Judgment at Tokyo: World War II on Trial and the Making of Modern Asia | Pan Macmillan / Picador |
| Kathleen DuVal | Native Nations: A Millennium in North America | Penguin Random House |
| Dylan C. Penningroth | Before the Movement: The Hidden History of Black Civil Rights | WW Norton / Liveright |
What Is the Market Impact of a Cundill Win?
As a point of interest—and using US dollars as our currency because the Cundill pays its especially generous winnings in American dollars—it’s worth considering that the Cundill and other awards programs working in nonfiction, frequently are handling some of the most expensive books published by the trade onto the English-language markets.
Consumers, whose attention is, after all, the target of these awards’ efforts to increase visibility, are asked by the nonfiction awards to consider some of the longest and costliest reads in the teeming world of so many prize programs.
It would thus be of special assistance to the industry at large to learn from these competitions what impact their wins have on sales.
- The Bass book in hardcover is published in the States by Penguin Random House, and runs to 912 pages at a suggested retail price of US$46.00
- The DuVal book in hardcover lists at 752 pages with a price of US$38.00
- The Penningroth book in hardcover runs to 496 pages with a retail price of US$35.00
The Baillie Gifford Prize for Nonfiction in the United Kingdom, another of the world industry’s leading nonfiction awards, has committed to produce and report just such data on its wins’ impact on sales, and it will on October 10 announce its 2024 shortlist.
Many in publishing might like to see the Cundill History Prize follow suit, and consider reporting on the market effect of its top honor, as well.
The 2024 Jury
Joining broadcaster and historian Rana Mitter on the jury panel this year are:
- New York University professor Nicole Eustace
- New York Times health reporter and Poynter fellow Stephanie Nolen
- Vanderbilt University professor Moses Ochonu
- Indiana University-Bloomington and Hutton Honors College dean Rebecca L. Spring
Previous Winning Authors of the Cundill History Prize
- Tania Branigan (2023)
- Tiya Miles (2022)
- Marjoleine Kars (2021)
- Camilla Townsend (2020)
- Julia Lovell (2019)
- Maya Jasanoff (2018)
- Daniel Beer (2017)
- Thomas W. Laqueur (2016)
- Susan Pedersen (2015)
- Gary Bass (2014)
- Anne Applebaum (2013)
- Stephen Platt (2012)
- Sergio Luzzatto (2011)
- Diarmaid MacCulloch (2010)
- Lisa Jardine (2009)
- Stuart B. Schwartz (2008)
Peter Cundill
Peter Cundill
The Cundill History Prize was founded by Peter Cundill (1938-2011), who was the founder of the Cundill Value Fund. He established the Cundill History Prize in 2008, two years after being diagnosed with Fragile X Tremor/Ataxia Syndrome, with which he died in London.
In a comment on the longlist’s release this year, Lisa Shapiro, dean of the faculty of arts at Montreal’s McGill University—the seat of the Cundill program—is quoted, saying, “The jury for the 2024 Cundill History Prize has done outstanding work in arriving at a longlist of 13 titles from a very competitive field, representing the very best in historical writing and scholarship.
“These books also highlight the range of new perspectives on both past events and our present context afforded by high-quality history.”
More from Publishing Perspectives on the Cundill History Prize is here. More on the international industry’s publishing and book awards is here, more on the Canadian book market is here, and more on nonfiction is here.