The 31st annual shortlist for the BC Book Prizes was announced March 11, 2015, which includes both emerging and established writers in seven categories. The prizes, awarded by the non-profit West Coast Book Prize Society, are given annually to celebrate the achievements of British Columbia writers and publishers.
Patrick Lane, considered one of Canada's pre-eminent poets as well as a celebrated novelist and essayist, is shortlisted for the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize. In 2007 he won the Lieutenant Governor's Award for Literary Excellence, and was recently honoured as an Officer of the Order of Canada.
Washita (Harbour Publishing) is his first book of new poems in seven years, as compiling his collected poetic works in 2010-11 rekindled his love for the genre. Also shortlisted in the poetry category is newcomer Kayla Czaga, a recent graduate from UBC with an MFA in Creative Writing. Although her writing—including poetry, non-fiction and fiction—has been published in literary journals and anthologies, For Your Safety Please Hold On (Nightwood Editions), is Czaga’s first book.
Robert Budd & Roy Henry Vickers being greeted as finalists at the 2014 BC Book Prizes Gala. Photo by Monica Miller.
Roy Henry Vickers and Robert Budd are shortlisted again for the Bill Duthie Booksellers' Choice Award. They have followed up their previous collaboration, national bestseller Raven Brings the Light (Harbour Publishing), with another illustrated book based on Northwest Coast legends. Cloudwalker (Harbour Publishing), describing the creation of the rivers, is shortlisted for the Bill Duthie Booksellers' Choice Award, which is voted on by members of the BC Booksellers’ Association.
Award-winning nature photographer and devoted conservationist Ian McAllister has a new book of stunning photographs and personal essays about the Great Bear Rainforest. Great Bear Wild: Dispatches from a Northern Rainforest (Greystone) is shortlisted for the Roderick Haig-Brown Regional Prize. The rainforest is renowned for its biodiversity, but is also one of the most endangered regions.
Shortlisted in 2013 for Liquor, Lust, and the Law: The Story of Vancouver's Legendary Penthouse Nightclub (Arsenal Pulp Press), Aaron Chapman is back again, this time looking at the history of the Commodore Ballroom. Live at the Commodore: The Story of Vancouver's Historic Commodore Ballroom (Arsenal Pulp Press) is shortlisted for the Bill Duthie Booksellers’ Choice Award.
Caroline Adderson, shown accepting the Sheila A. Egoff Children's Literature Prize in 2013. Photo by Monica Miller.
Caroline Adderson, who writes for both adults and children, is shortlisted in two different award categories for two different books—an achievement that Ashley Little also achieved last year. Ellen in Pieces (HarperCollins) is shortlisted in the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize, and Norman, Speak! (Groundwood Books),illustrated by Qin Leng, is shortlisted for the Christie Harris Illustrated Children’s Literature Prize.
Only time will tell if Caroline Adderson is as lucky as Ashley Little was last year when the winners of the BC Book Prizes are announced on April 25, 2015. The annual Lieutenant Governor’s BC Book Prizes Gala will take place in Vancouver and is attended by British Columbia’s Lieutenant Governor, the Honourable Judith Guichon, OBC.
The BC Book Prizes hosts a free Soiree in early April to celebrate the shortlisted authors (date to be announced), where the recipient of the Lieutenant Governor's Award for Literary Excellence will also be announced. The Lieutenant Governor's Award for Literary Excellence is awarded annually to one author who has contributed to the development of literary excellence in the Province. Following the Soiree, the BC Book Prizes On Tour will kick off, taking select authors (to be announced) around the province to visit schools, bookstores, and libraries in numerous communities.
See the full 2015 shortlist below. For more detailed book descriptions and author bios, visit the BC Book Prizes website.
Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize
- Caroline Adderson, Ellen in Pieces (HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.)
- Aislinn Hunter, The World Before Us (Doubleday Canada)
- Kathy Page, Paradise and Elsewhere (Biblioasis)
- Brian Payton, The Wind Is Not a River (HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.)
- Michael Springate, The Beautiful West & The Beloved of God (Guernica Editions)
Roderick Haig-Brown Regional Prize
- Richard Beamish and Gordon McFarlane (editors), The Sea Among Us: The Amazing Strait of Georgia (Harbour Publishing)
- Margaret Horsfield and Ian Kennedy, Tofino and Clayoquot Sound: A History (Harbour Publishing)
- Christine Lowther, Born Out of This (Caitlin Press)
- Ian McAllister, Great Bear Wild: Dispatches from a Northern Rainforest (Greystone Books)
- Jay Sherwood, Surveying Southern British Columbia: A Photojournal of Frank Swannell, 1901-07 (Caitlin Press)
Hubert Evans Non-Fiction Prize
- Julie Angus, Olive Odyssey: Searching for the Secrets of the Fruit That Seduced the World (Greystone Books)
- Kevin Chong, Northern Dancer: The Legendary Horse That Inspired a Nation (Viking)
- Barry Gough, The Elusive Mr. Pond: The Soldier, Fur Trader and Explorer Who Opened the Northwest (Douglas & McIntyre)
- Eve Joseph, In the Slender Margin: The Intimate Strangeness of Dying (HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.)
- Nancy J. Turner, Ancient Pathways, Ancestral Knowledge: Ethnobotany and Ecological Wisdom of Indigenous Peoples of Northwestern North America (McGill-Queen’s University Press)
Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize
- Rob Budde, Dreamland Theatre (Caitlin Press)
- Jen Currin, School (Coach House Books)
- Kayla Czaga, For Your Safety Please Hold On (Nightwood Editions)
- Patrick Lane, Washita (Harbour Publishing)
- Cecily Nicholson, From the Poplars (Talonbooks)
Christie Harris Illustrated Children’s Literature Prize
- Norman, Speak!, by Caroline Adderson, illustrated by Qin Leng (Groundwood Books)
- Dolphin SOS, by Roy Miki and Slavia Miki, illustrated by Julie Flett (Tradewind Books)
- The Most Magnificent Thing, by Ashley Spires, illustrated by Ashley Spires (Kids Can Press)
- Stop, Thief!, by Heather Tekavec, illustrated by Pierre Pratt (Kids Can Press)
- Hana Hashimoto, Sixth Violin, by Chieri Uegaki, illustrated by Qin Leng (Kids Can Press)
Sheila A. Egoff Children’s Literature Prize
- Becky Citra, Finding Grace (Second Story Press)
- Maggie de Vries, Rabbit Ears (HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.)
- Eileen Kernaghan, Sophie, in Shadow (Thistledown Press)
- Gabrielle Prendergast, Capricious (Orca Book Publishers)
- Elizabeth Stewart, Blue Gold (Annick Press)
Bill Duthie Booksellers’ Choice Award
- Lisa Ahier, The Sobo Cookbook: Recipes from the Tofino Restaurant at the End of the Canadian Road (Appetite by Random House)
- Richard Beamish and Gordon McFarlane (editors), The Sea Among Us: The Amazing Strait of Georgia (Harbour Publishing)
- Aaron Chapman, Live at the Commodore: The Story of Vancouver's Historic Commodore Ballroom (Arsenal Pulp Press)
- Alicia Priest, A Rock Fell on the Moon: Dad and the Great Yukon Silver Ore Heist (Harbour Publishing)
- Roy Henry Vickers and Robert Budd, Cloudwalker (Harbour Publishing)