The West Coast Book Prize Society is thrilled to announce the winners of the 38th annual BC and Yukon Book Prizes. Prizes are awarded annually to recognize the achievements of BC and Yukon authors, illustrators and publishers. Award winners are selected through a juried system, with five finalists in each prize category, including the winner selected in each prize category.
Here is the list of the 2022 BC and Yukon Book Prizes winners:
Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize – Ruth Ozeki, The Book of Form and Emptiness (Viking/Penguin Random House Canada)
Hubert Evans Non-Fiction Prize – Jordan Abel, NISHGA (McClelland & Stewart/Penguin Random House Canada)
Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize – Henry Doyle, No Shelter (Anvil Press)
Roderick Haig-Brown Regional Prize – Dr. Luschiim Arvid Charlie and Nancy J. Turner, Luschiim’s Plants: Traditional Indigenous Foods, Materials and Medicine (Harbour Publishing)
Sheila A. Egoff Children’s Literature Prize – Robbie Waisman with Susan McClelland, Boy from Buchenwald: The True Story of a Holocaust Survivor (Bloomsbury)
Christie Harris Illustrated Children’s Literature Prize – Julie Morstad, Time is a Flower (Tundra Books/Penguin Random House Canada)
Jim Deva Prize for Writing that Provokes – Harsha Walia, Border and Rule: Global Migration, Capitalism, and the Rise of Racist Nationalism (Fernwood Publishing)
Bill Duthie Booksellers’ Choice Award – Suzanne Simard, Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest (Allen Lane Canada/Penguin Random House)
In addition to the eight awards for the annual prize categories, two awards were also awarded to writers for their body of work and contributions to the literary community:
Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Literary Excellence – Audrey Thomas
The recipient of the Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Literary Excellence will be recognized as having written a substantial body of literary work throughout their career and contributed significantly to the literary community/industry of the Province of British Columbia.
Audrey Thomas is the author of a number of highly praised novels, including, Intertidal Life, which was nominated for the Governor General’s Award for Fiction. She has also written short story collections and radio dramas in a career that has spanned four decades. Thomas has won three Ethel Wilson Fiction Prizes, and has been awarded multiple honours from the Writers’ Trust of Canada. In 2008, she was made an Officer of the Order of Canada.
Borealis Prize: The Commissioner of Yukon Award for Literary Contribution – Tara Borin
The recipient of the Borealis Prize will be recognized as having spent significant time living and working among the writing community in Yukon and made substantial contributions to the Yukon writing and publishing community through writing, publishing, community organizing, Indigenous writing and storytelling, or in many other ways.
Tara Borin is the author of the debut poetry collection The Pit. A graduate of SFU’s The Writers’ Studio, Borin is engaged in supporting and growing word arts in Yukon. They are a board member for Yukon Words, and have worked with the Federation of BC Writers. Having worked closely with mentors through The Writers’ Studio and the writing community in Yukon, Borin teaches workshops and hosts readings for authors sharing opportunities and knowledge with other writers.