The story of a devastating wildfire that reads 'like a thriller' wins U.K. book prize
https://www.npr.org/2023/11/17/1213685507/the-story-of-a-devastating-wildfire-that-reads-like-a-thriller-wins-u-k-book-pri
The story of a devastating wildfire that reads 'like a thriller' wins U.K. book prize
NOVEMBER 17, 2023 5:07 AM ET
By The Associated Press
LONDON 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.
The chairperson of the judging panel, Frederick Studemann, said the book tells "a terrifying story," reading "almost like a thriller" with a "deep science backdrop."
He called Fire Weather, which was also a U.S. National Book Award finalist, "an extraordinary and elegantly rendered account of a terrifying climate disaster that engulfed a community and industry, underscoring our toxic relationship with fossil fuels."
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