The Lionel Gelber Prize
The Lionel Gelber Prize, a literary award for the world's best non-fiction book on international affairs published in English, was founded in 1989 by Canadian diplomat Lionel Gelber. A cash prize of $50,000 CAD is awarded to the winner. The award is presented annually by University of Toronto's Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy.
2026 Lionel Gelber Prize Shortlist
The winner will be announced on March 30, 2026. The winning author will take part in a hybrid event hosted by the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy on April 15, 2026.
An international panel of practitioners, journalists and scholars has announced the shortlist for the 2026 Lionel Gelber Prize. This will be the 36th awarding of the prize, which honours the world’s best book on international affairs published in English. The winner will receive $50,000 CAD and will be chosen from the following five titles:
- Capitalism: A Global History by Sven Beckert (Penguin Press)
- House of Huawei: The Secret History of China's Most Powerful Company by Eva Dou (Portfolio)
- How Progress Ends: Technology, Innovation and the Fate of Nations by Carl Benedikt Frey (Princeton University Press)
- King of Kings: The Iranian Revolution: A Story of Hubris, Delusion, and Catastrophic Miscalculation by Scott Anderson (Signal/McClelland & Stewart)
- Thinking Historically: A Guide to Statecraft and Strategy by Francis J. Gavin (Yale University Press)
