The West Coast Book Prize Society has announced the names of the finalists vying for recognition at the 32nd Annual BC Book Prizes.
For the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize, awarded to the author of the best work of fiction:
• Alix Hawley, All True Not a Lie in It (Knopf Canada)
• Pauline Holdstock, The Hunter and the Wild Girl (Goose Lane Editions)
• Irina Kovalyova, Specimen (House of Anansi Press)
• Nasreen Pejvack, Amity (Inanna Publications)
• Anakana Schofield, Martin John (Biblioasis)
For the Roderick Haig-Brown Regional Prize, to recognize the author(s) of the book that contributes most to the enjoyment and understanding of British Columbia:
• Jon Bartlett and Rika Ruebsaat, Soviet Princeton: Slim Evans and the 1932–33 Miners' Strike (New Star Books)
• Gwen Curry, Tod Inlet: A Healing Place (Rocky Mountain Books)
• Derrick Stacey Denholm, Ground-Truthing: Reimagining the Indigenous Rainforests of BC's North Coast (Caitlin Press)
• Briony Penn, The Real Thing: The Natural History of Ian McTaggart Cowan (Rocky Mountain Books)
• John Thistle, Resettling the Range: Animals, Ecologies, and Human Communities in British Columbia (UBC Press)
For the Hubert Evans Non-Fiction Prize, awarded to the author of the best original non-fiction literary work:
• Brian Brett, Tuco: The Parrot, the Others, and A Scattershot World (Greystone Books)
• Briony Penn, The Real Thing: The Natural History of Ian McTaggart Cowan (Rocky Mountain Books)
• Lori Shenher, That Lonely Section of Hell: The Botched Investigation of a Serial Killer Who Almost Got Away (Greystone Books)
• Maria Tippett, Made in British Columbia: Eight Ways of Making Culture (Harbour Publishing)
• Emily Urquhart,Beyond the Pale: Folklore, Family and the Mystery of Our Hidden Genes (HarperCollins Publishers)
For the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize, awarded to the author of the best work of poetry:
• Ali Blythe, Twoism (Goose Lane Editions)
• Amber Dawn, Where the words end and my body begins (Arsenal Pulp Press)
• Raoul Fernandes, Transmitter and Receiver (Nightwood Editions)
• Miranda Pearson, The Fire Extinguisher (Oolichan Books)
• Jeff Steudel, Foreign Park (Anvil Press)
For the Christie Harris Illustrated Children’s Literature Prize, presented to the best illustrated book written for children:
• Song for a Summer Night: A Lullaby, by Robert Heidbreder, illustrated by Qin Leng (Groundwood Books)
• The Red Bicycle: The Extraordinary Story of One Ordinary Bicycle, by Jude Isabella, illustrated by Simone Shin (Kids Can Press)
•Peace is an Offering, by Annette LeBox, illustrated by Stephanie Graegin (Dial Books)
• This Is Sadie, by Sara O'Leary, illustrated by Julie Morstad (Tundra Books)
• Orca Chief, by Roy Henry Vickers and Robert Budd, illustrated by Roy Henry Vickers (Harbour Publishing)
For the Sheila A. Egoff Children’s Literature Prize, awarded to the best non-illustrated book written for children:
• Linda Bailey, Seven Dead Pirates (Tundra Books)
• Darren Groth, Are You Seeing Me? (Orca Book Publishers)
• Susan Juby, The Truth Commission (Razorbill)
• Susin Nielsen, We Are All Made of Molecules (Tundra Books)
• Jordan Stratford, The Case of the Missing Moonstone (The Wollstonecraft Detective Agency, Book 1) (Knopf Books for Young Readers)
And for the Bill Duthie Booksellers’ Choice Award, presented to the originating publisher and author(s) of the best book in terms of public appeal, initiative, design, production, and content:
• Caroline Adderson, John Atkin, Kerry Gold, Evelyn Lau, Eve Lazarus, John Mackie, Elise & Stephen Partridge, and Bren Simmers with an introduction by Michael Kluckner and photographs by Tracey Ayton and Caroline Adderson, Vancouver Vanishes: Narratives of Demolition and Revival (Anvil Press)
• Eve Lazarus, Cold Case Vancouver: The City's Most Baffling Unsolved Murders (Arsenal Pulp Press)
• Susan Musgrave, A Taste of Haida Gwaii: Food Gathering and Feasting at the Edge of the World (Whitecap Books)
• Roy Henry Vickers and Robert Budd, Orca Chief (Harbour Publishing)
• Caroline Woodward, Light Years: Memoir of a Modern Lighthouse Keeper (Harbour Publishing)
The winners in the seven categories above will be announced at the Lieutenant Governor’s BC Book Prizes Gala on Saturday, April 30, at Government House in Victoria in the presence of British Columbia’s Lieutenant Governor, the Honourable Judith Guichon, OBC. Tickets go online starting Monday, March 14.
The recipient of the 2016 Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Literary Excellence will also be presented (winner to be announced on March 23). This award was established in 2003 to recognize BC writers who have contributed to the development of literary excellence in the province. Last year’s award was presented to Betty Keller. The seven winners and the recipient of the Literary Excellence award will collectively receive $19,000 in cash prizes.
A selection of the shortlisted authors (to be announced in the coming weeks) will be part of BC Book Prizes On Tour. This author reading tour will take finalists to schools and public venues in communities throughout BC this April.
