A Ryerson journalism graduate has won Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for the best non-fiction book published in Canada this year.
Graeme Smith, the author of The Dogs are Eating Them Now: Our War in Afghanistan, was awarded the prize on Monday night at the Art Gallery of Ontario.
Read The Ryersonian’s Q&A with Smith
The book is about Smith’s experiences as a foreign correspondant for the Globe and Mail in Afghanistan between 2005 and 2011. It offers a candid look at the rise of the Taliban, including details about the period Smith spent embedded with the military overseas.
When he was first nominated in September, he told The Ryersonian he felt honoured.
“I’m always grateful when people actually read the book and if they like it, that’s good too,” he said.
Smith has also won three National Newspaper Awards, the annual Michener Award for public service awarded by the Governor General of Canada and an Emmy for a 2009 video series he produced about Taliban fighters. He now works as a senior analyst for a non-governmental organization called International Crisis Group, which aims to prevent and resolve deadly conflicts.
With files from Kelsey Rolfe.
Tara is the former print managing editor at The Ryersonian and a 2014 graduate of Ryerson University's journalism program.