Party Central
Politics and the Pen serves up $350,000 for Writers’ Trust of Canada, and a side of Climate Optimism
Politics and the Pen kicked off Ottawa’s party season with a swanky shindig at the Château Laurier on May 10, and even with the slightly smoggy haze in the air from the wildfires in Alberta, the annual award gala for some of Canada’s best political authors offered up a bit of optimism in the face of the ongoing climate crisis.
About 500 politicians, bureaucrats, authors, lobbyists, and of course, Party Central and a sizeable Hill Times crew donned their best black-tie duds to celebrate political writing in Canada. The event wound up raising more than $350,000 for the second year in a row, adding to the more than $5-million the event has raised to support Writers’ Trust literary programs since 2000, when the trust established the Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing. Named in honour of the popular Liberal MP for the Ontario riding of Windsor-Tecumseh who sadly died in the House in 1998, the prize is awarded every year for “an exceptional book of literary nonfiction that captured a political subject of relevance to Canadian readers” and is sponsored by CN.
left, and Politics and the Pen co-chair
Elizabeth Gray-Smith.
SPONSORED CONTENT
This year’s winner is Chris Turner’s How to Be a Climate Optimist: Blueprints for a Better World, taking home a cool $25,000 in prize money.
“Turner doesn’t pretend that crafting policy to slow global warming is easy, he presents a compelling argument: gloom and doom is not an effective strategy,” this year’s jury of Terri E. Givens, Nik Nanos, and Jacques Poitras said of the book that offers readers “a self-help guide for the planet and a masterclass in brisk, vivid storytelling. Turner gives us a crisp, upbeat tour d’horizon of gee-whiz innovation coupled with a strongly argued case that we — politicians, voters, and citizens — just need the will to reach for the solutions taking shape before our eyes.”
The other finalists, Norma Dunning for Kinauvit?: What’s Your Name? The Eskimo Disc System and a Daughter’s Search for her Grandmother; Dale Eisler’s From Left to Right: Saskatchewan’s Political and Economic Transformation; Josh O’Kane for Sideways: The City Google Couldn’t Buy; and Andrew Stobo Sniderman and Douglas Sanderson (Amo Binashii) for Valley of the Birdtail: An Indian Reserve, a White Town, and the Road to Reconciliation, also walked away with a respectable $2,500 and the knowledge that their books will now adorn the shelves of some of the most important people in Canada as they left the evening with a free copy of at least one of the shortlisted books.
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As for the actual party, while Party Central never misses an opportunity to rock a bow-tie, there was a small level of jealousy towards the politicians and former prize winners and finalists who were bestowed with green and yellow ribbon gold medals for the night. Fortunately, there were plenty of delicious appetizers, including tuna-tartare cones, and peanut butter-glazed roast beef, as well as an open bar nearly every 10 feet to help eat and drink through those feelings of non-gold medal inadequacy. It was also much easier to get to the bar as it seemed the night’s attendees had not been told there was a full reception hall set up, and instead many seemed to prefer to mingle in the hallway outside. Party Central spent most of that time chatting with Speaker Anthony Rota and Stewart “Brittlestar” Reynolds.
Politico’s Nick Taylor-Vaisey, and
Conservative MP Jasraj Singh Hallan.
Globe’s Ottawa bureau chief Bob Fife.
After some coaxing and a bagpiper to lead the way, the attendees finally made their way to the gala dinner just after 7:30p.m., where Party Central lucked out at the cool-kids table, sitting next to author Sanderson (Binashii), and Green Party Leader Elizabeth May, whose at times not-so-quiet heckles were a lot more hilarious than the scripted and overlong video skits from Canada’s consulate generals in the U.S. ,Tom Clark in New York and Rodger Cuzner in Boston, and the safe and inoffensive comedic stylings of the night’s hosts Treasury Board President Mona Fortier, and NDP MP Daniel Blaikie.
As for the actual dinner, it was stupendous: charred zucchini, burratini, prosciutto, toasted pistachio, fig chutney and baby greens with preserved lemon in a smoked paprika oil; a main course of roasted duck breast and confit braised mustard cabbage, parsnips and white chocolate puree with preserved lemon and orange jus; and finished off with red currant meringue tart with hibiscus meringue and vanilla bean chantilly
Once the dinner was over and the free wine had been finished, the night’s revellers made their way over to the hotel bar for an unofficial after party, but what happens at Zoe’s, stays at Zoe’s. Mostly because Party Central doubts many people remember what happened once those shots started flowing.
The Hill Times
