Bill Waiser wins Governor General's Literary Award

Historian Bill Waiser has won the 2016 Governor General’s Literary Award for non-fiction with his book A World We Have Lost: Saskatchewan Before 1905.

Waiser (MA’76, PhD’83, DLitt’10) is a distinguished professor emeritus in the Department of History and one of the College of Arts & Science’s alumni of influence.

“I’m a little overwhelmed by the prize, but at same time delighted by the recognition,” said Waiser. “A World We Have Lost completes the story of the province’s history that I embarked upon over a decade ago with the publication of Saskatchewan: A New History. It is my hope that the two books will continue to have resonance in the coming decades.”

A World We Have Lost explores the history of the land now called Saskatchewan prior to it becoming a province.

In a statement, the Governor General’s Awards jury called the book “a sweeping blend of narrative, historical detail, and compelling images,” adding that “Waiser refocuses the country’s story by putting Indigenous peoples and environmental concerns in the foreground.”

Waiser is the author of more than a dozen books. He is a previous finalist, along with co-author Blair Stonechild, for the Governor General’s Literary Awards in the non-fiction category for the 1997 book Loyal till Death: Indians and the North-West Rebellion. Waiser’s Saskatchewan: A New History was named one of the best books of 2005 by the Globe and Mail and was awarded the Clio Prize by the Canadian Historical Association.

A popular public speaker and contributor to media, Waiser is a recipient of the Saskatchewan Centennial Medal (2005), the Saskatchewan Order of Merit (2006) and was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (2007).

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