Off the Radar: A Father's Secret, a Mother's Heroism, and a Son's Quest by Cyrus Copeland (Blue Rider Press) has won the 2016 Chautauqua Prize, honoring "a book of fiction or literary/narrative nonfiction that provides a richly rewarding reading experience and honors the author for a significant contribution to the literary arts."
As Chautauqua said, "Off the Radar is a story only Copeland could tell--that of his American father arrested in Iran for spying at the time of the 1979 hostage crisis, then put on trial for his life in a Revolutionary Court. Off the Radar is a memoir and mystery, a spy story and a tale of the relationship between father and son. The book is 'an intriguing story well told,' Chautauqua readers said, lauding it as being an 'outstanding' work of 'timeless and timely material.' "
Copeland wins $7,5000 and travel and expenses for a week-long residency at Chautauqua in August.
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Adnan Khan has been named the recipient of the RBC Taylor Emerging Writer Award, which was created "to promote emerging talent in nonfiction writing." Khan, who was chosen by Rosemary Sullivan, winner of this year's RBC Taylor Prize for Nonfiction, will receive a C$10,000 (about US$7,670) cash prize and the opportunity to be mentored by the 2016 RBC Taylor Prize winner.
Sullivan commented: "Charged with the onerous, if delightful, responsibility of selecting an emerging writer, I began to look for a young writer who wrote elegantly, was clearly a reader, and was engaged with significant obsessions. Adnan Khan, having already crafted his own voice, and so ready to interrogate himself and our culture, seemed the perfect choice."