Jury Citation

“Thomas King’s Indians on Vacation slyly pulls readers along on a European travelogue that reveals itself to be both intimately personal and cuttingly political, as an older Indigenous couple attempt to retrace the movements of a long-lost family member and perhaps find the medicine bundle he took with him on his travels — while also navigating a colonial history that has resonated through each of their lives. Only King can craft a story like this one: warm and charming and knife-sharp all at once, a novel that serves grief and anger with a constant yet somehow always-unexpected wit.” — 2020 WT Fiction Prize Jury (Elisabeth de Mariaffi, Waubgeshig Rice, and Yasuko Thanh)

Jury Citation

“With wit, grace, and searing anger, Thomas King explores the post-contact history of indigenous people in Canada and the United States. Along the way, King argues that, curiously, very little has changed over the last 400 years. The Indian remains unwanted and in the way – inconvenient. A book leavened with rage, sorrow, and humour, this is a powerful reflection on the past, present, and future of the Native experience.” – 2013 Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction Jury (Hal Niedzviecki, Candace Savage, and Andreas Schroeder)