For the first time, the Charles Taylor prize for literary nonfiction has produced a longlist. It seems the competition was too fierce to simply declare the shortlist. The 11 contenders for the $25,000 prize are as follows:

• Something Fierce: Memoirs of a Revolutionary Daughter, by Carmen Aguirre
• Into the Silence: The Great War, Mallory, and the Conquest of Everest, by Wade Davis
• The Patrol: Seven Days in the Life of a Canadian Soldier in Afghanistan, by Ryan Flavelle
• Eating Dirt: Deep Forests, Big Timber, and Life with the Tree-Planting Tribe, by Charlotte Gill
• Nation Maker: Sir John A. MacDonald: His Life, Our Times Volume Two: 1867-1891, by Richard Gwyn
• The Measure of a Man: The Story of a Father, a Son, and a Suit, by J.J. Lee
• Facing the Hunter: Reflections on a Misunderstood Way of Life, by David Adams Richards
• Why Not? Fifteen Reasons to Live, by Ray Robertson
• Afflictions and Departures: Essays, by Madeline Sonik
• The Chimps of Fauna Sanctuary: A Canadian Story of Resilience and Recovery, by Andrew Westoll
• Bad Animals: A Father's Accidental Education in Autism, by Joel Yanofsky