February 25th 2026 in News

Canadian Historian of China, Timothy Brook, to Chair the 2026 Cundill History Prize

CUNDILL HISTORY PRIZE 2026: SUBMISSIONS CLOSE FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 27

Professor Timothy Brook, Canadian historian of China and the Ming dynasty, will chair the 2026 jury for the US$75,000 Cundill History Prize. Awarded annually for an outstanding work of history, the Cundill History Prize is the largest purse for a work of non-fiction written in or translated into English, with US$10,000 awarded to each of the two runners-up.

Brook is Professor Emeritus at the University of British Columbia and has held academic positions at the University of Toronto, Stanford University and the University of Oxford. He is known for his widely acclaimed books including Vermeer’s Hat (Bloomsbury, 2008), Mr. Selden’s Map of China (Profile, 2013) and Great State: China and the World (HarperCollins, 2020).

Timothy Brook said: “I am very pleased to have been appointed to the Cundill History Prize committee. Deeply committed to seeing publishers produce great books on history, I am delighted to be part of this project, which draws the attention of the public to the best books in our field.”

Brook will chair a panel of world-class historians, which will be announced in April.

Administered by McGill University, the prize is open to authors from anywhere in the world, regardless of nationality or place of residence, and to books translated into English. As of 2020, the Prize has operated a fully digital submissions process.

Lisa Shapiro, Dean of Arts at McGill University said: “The Cundill History Prize plays a vital role in bringing outstanding historical scholarship to a wide public. We are delighted to welcome Timothy Brook as Chair of the 2026 jury and look forward to another year of rigorous, imaginative and globally engaged history writing.”

Last year the jury, chaired by Ada Ferrer, awarded the prize to Lyndal Roper, Regius Professor of History at the University of Oxford, for her “sensational” account of the sixteenth-century uprising that shook Europe to its core, Summer of Fire and Blood: The German Peasants’ War (John Murray Press / Basic Books).

Following Roper’s win in 2025, this year’s winner will join an alumni list of world-leading historians and authors: Kathleen DuVal (2024); Tania Branigan (2023), Tiya Miles (2022), Marjoleine Kars (2021), Camilla Townsend (2020), Julia Lovell (2019), Maya Jasanoff (2018), Daniel Beer (2017), Thomas W. Laqueur (2016), Susan Pedersen (2015), Gary Bass (2014), Anne Applebaum (2013), Stephen Platt (2012), Sergio Luzzatto (2011), Diarmaid MacCulloch (2010), Lisa Jardine (2009), Stuart B. Schwartz (2008).

Publishers have until Friday, February 27 to submit their best works of history for consideration.