John Vaillant is an author and freelance writer whose work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, National Geographic, and The Guardian, among others. His first book, The Golden Spruce (Knopf, 2005), was a bestseller and won several awards, including the Governor General’s and Writers’ Trust awards for nonfiction (Canada). His second nonfiction book, The Tiger (Knopf, 2010), won the B.C. Achievement Award for Nonfiction, was a bestseller and has been published in 16 languages. In 2014, Vaillant won the Windham-Campbell Prize, a global award for nonfiction. In 2015, he published his first work of fiction, The Jaguar’s Children (Knopf), which was longlisted for the Dublin IMPAC and Kirkus Fiction Prizes and was a finalist for the Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize. His latest book, Fire Weather (Knopf, 2023), is an international bestseller, a New York Times 10 Best Books of 2023, a finalist for the 2023 National Book Award (U.S.), and winner of the Baillie Gifford Prize (U.K.).

WHY THEY’RE JOINING US

In Fire Weather, John Vaillant’s latest book and a finalist for the 2023 National Book Award non-fiction award, we learn how Canada’s Fort McMurray went from vibrant boom town to a cinder pile ravaged by devastating firestorms, sparked from a small wildfire and fueled by climate change.  It’s a cautionary, riveting tale masterfully told and one that lays bare the risks of ignoring our world’s changing weather patterns.

Photo credit – John Sinal