London, Ont.-born nature writer Jessica Lee has been named this year's winner of the RBC Taylor Emerging Writer Award.
Lee was selected for the $10,000 honour by adventurer Kate Harris, who was awarded the RBC Taylor Prize in March for "Lands of Lost Borders: Out of Bounds on the Silk Roads."
Harris says in a statement she selected the up-and-coming talent after reading her first book, "Turning," which blends memoir and nature writing.
In addition to the cash prize, Lee will receive mentorship from Harris as she finishes her next book and continues other projects.
Lee is the founder and editor of the Willowherb Review, a literary magazine that aims to promote diversity in nature writing.
Lee holds a PhD in environmental history and aesthetics from York University, and currently lives in Berlin, where she is a writer-in-residence at the Leibniz Institute for Freshwater Ecology.
