Stephen R. Bown

Stephen R. Bown
Occupation	Writer
Language	English
Years active	2002 - present
Notable awards	2021 National Business Book Award 2024 Governor General's History Award for Popular Media
Website
www.stephenrbown.net/index.php

Stephen R. Bown is a Canadian writer of non-fiction books. His works have received several nonfiction awards, including the 2021 National Business Book Award for The Company: The Rise and Fall of the Hudson's Bay Empire.

Career

Bown's first nonfiction book, Sightseers and Scholars: Scientific Travellers in the Golden Age of Natural History, was published in 2002. As of 2026 ^[update] , he has published twelve non-fiction books.

Bown discussed his career in a 2017 interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. His favorite childhood book series was Cugel's Saga by Jack Vance. Bown stated that Vance's travels to Borneo and Indonesia broadened Vance's worldview, which inspired Bown to "open my mind to understand the decisions and actions of the true historical individuals that I write about." ^[1]

In a 2018 interview with Read Local BC, Bown discussed his book Island of the Blue Foxes: Disaster and Triumph of the World's Greatest Scientific Expedition. Bown wrote that he wanted to focus on the intimate details of the people involved, rather than "dense historical background." ^[2]

Personal life

According to CBC Books, Bown is from Canmore, Alberta. ^[3]

Awards and honors

Bown's 2018 book Island of the Blue Foxes: Disaster and Triumph on Bering’s Great Voyage to Alaska was shortlisted for the RBC Taylor Prize. ^[4] It was longlisted for British Columbia's National Award for Canadian Non-Fiction. ^[5]

In 2021, Stephen Bown and Mark Carney shared the National Business Book Award. Bown received the award for his book The Company: The Rise and Fall of the Hudson’s Bay Empire. It was the first time in the award's history that two books were named winners. ^[6]

In 2024, Bown received the Governor General's History Award for Popular Media, administered by Canada's National History Society. ^[7]

Bibliography

• Sightseers and Scholars: Scientific Travellers in the Golden Age of Natural History. Key Porter Books. 10 September 2002. ISBN   9781552634868.
• Scurvy: How a Surgeon, a Mariner, and a Gentleman Solved the Greatest Medical Mystery of the Age of Sail . Thomas Dunne Books. 17 March 2004. ISBN   9780312313913.
• A Most Damnable Invention: Dynamite, Nitrates, and the Making of the Modern World. Thomas Dunne Books. 1 October 2005. ISBN   9780312329136.
• Forgotten Highways: Wilderness Journeys Down the Historic Trails of the Canadian Rockies. Brindle & Glass Publishing. ISBN   9781897142240.
• Madness, Betrayal and the Lash: The Epic Voyage of Captain George Vancouver. Douglas & McIntyre. 5 May 2009. ISBN   9781553653394.
• Merchant Kings: When Companies Ruled the World, 1600 to 1900 . Thomas Dunne Books. 7 December 2010. ISBN   9780312616113.
• 1494: How a Family Feud in Medieval Spain Divided the World in Half. Thomas Dunne Books. 14 February 2012. ISBN   9780312616120.
• The Last Viking: The Life of Roald Amundsen. Da Capo Press. 25 September 2012. ISBN   9780306820670.
• White Eskimo: Knud Rasmussen's Fearless Journey into the Heart of the Arctic. Grand Central Publishing. 10 November 2015. ISBN   9780306822827.
• Island of the Blue Foxes: Disaster and Triumph of the World's Greatest Scientific Expedition. Grand Central Publishing. 7 November 2017. ISBN   9780306825194.
• The Company: The Rise and Fall of the Hudson's Bay Empire. Doubleday Canada. 27 October 2020. ISBN   9780385694070.
• Dominion: The Railway and the Rise of Canada. Doubleday Canada. 10 October 2023. ISBN   9780385698726.

References

1. Olivia Pasquarelli (27 November 2017). "The strangest thing historical writer Stephen Bown has done while researching a book". CBC . Retrieved 25 January 2026.
2. Monica Miller (27 February 2018). "Stephen R. Bown and the Great Northern Expedition". Read Local BC. Retrieved 25 January 2026.
3. "Dominion: The Railway and the Rise of Canada by Stephen R. Bown". CBC Books. 20 November 2023. Retrieved 25 January 2026.
4. Brian Bethune (10 January 2018). "These are the 5 very different books shortlisted for the RBC Taylor Prize". Maclean's . Retrieved 25 January 2026.
5. Becky Robertson (2 November 2017). "Carol Off, Tanya Talaga longlisted for 2018 B.C. National Non-fiction Award". Quill & Quire . Retrieved 25 January 2026.
6. Cassandra Drudi (15 December 2021). "Stephen R. Bown and Mark Carney share 2021 National Business Book Award". Quill & Quire . Retrieved 25 January 2026.
7. Cassandra Drudi (18 November 2024). "Stephen R. Bown named 2024 Governor General's History Award recipient". Quill and Quire . Retrieved 25 January 2026.