"Freedom Climbers" Wins Grand Prize at 2011 Banff Mountain Book Festival
"Freedom Climbers", a novel about Polish climbing achievements in the Himalayas written by Canadian author Bernadette McDonald, has won the top honour at Canada's Banff Mountain Book Festival. The book is also nominated for the Boardman Tasker prize in London.
North American edition of "Freedom Climbers"
"Freedom Climbers", a novel about Polish climbing achievements in the Himalayas written by Canadian author Bernadette McDonald, has won the top honour at Canada's Banff Mountain Book Festival
Bernadette McDonald's new book, published by Rocky Mountain Books in October 2011, gives an account of the bravery and dedication of Polish climbers and their race for Himalayan peaks in the 1980s. McDonald puts forth the theory that the difficult conditions that martial law imposed on Polish society charged these climbers with the resilience to be the best in the world.
The book recreates the challenges that Polish climbers faced in pursuing their sky-high goals, detailing Voytek Kurtyka's remarkable conquest of Gasherbrum IV and Wanda Rutkiewicz's pioneer ascent of K2 as the first woman to do so in history, along with the personal stories of their friends and colleagues, many of whom perished in the punishing conditions of winter in the Himalayas.
Bernadette McDonald talking about the people who inspired her book:
Bernadette is the founding vice-president of Mountain Culture at the Banff Centre and the author of seven books on international mountaineering. She is the winner of numerous awards including the Alberta Order of Excellence, the Summit of Excellence Award from the Banff Centre, the King Albert Award for international leadership in the field of mountain culture and environment, and the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal.
The $2,000 award will be presented to Bernadette on Thursday, November 3 in the Max Bell Auditorium at the Banff Centre. Earlier that afternoon, she will present and sign books at the auditorium.
See the full list of finalists and more on the festival www.banffcentre.ca
Bernadette McDonald also won the Boardman Tasker prize at the Kendal Mountain Festival on the 18th of November, 2011.
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