BC and Yukon Book Prizes Gala
The 42nd Annual BC and Yukon Book Prizes Gala will take place on Saturday, September 19, 2026 at 1:00 pm at the University Golf Club in Vancouver, British Columbia. Your ticket includes entry to our reception, awards ceremony, snacks, canapes, and a glass of bubbly. The venue is wheelchair accessible and free parking is available onsite.
For this year’s Gala we’re excited to have BC and Yukon Book Prize finalist and celebrated local author Danny Ramadan hosting the event. We’re also welcoming performers and student poets to the festivities as they combine poetry and drag into an amazing artistic combination.
Snacks and canapes will include a mix of hot and cold items with vegan and gluten-free offerings. There will be limited seating available at the event. Please let us know if access to seating is required.
Until September 1st, tickets are $65 for members and $75 for non-members. Ticket orders of 6 or more are $65/ticket. After September 1st, tickets for members and non-members will be $85. The deadline to purchase tickets is Friday, September 12th. Unsure if your membership is up to date? E-mail us to confirm.
In the event that you need to cancel your order, refunds (minus service fees) will be offered until September 1st.
As stated in our entry criteria, tickets to the Gala are not provided to finalists and are generally paid for by the finalist publisher. If you are a finalist and cost is an obstacle for you to attend, please contact us.
About Danny Ramadan:
Danny Ramadan is a Syrian-Canadian author and public speaker. He was named a Scholar by Library and Archives Canada. His memoir Crooked Teeth (2024) received rave reviews and was nominated for the Governor General’s Award for Non-Fiction, the BC and Yukon Book Prize, and the City of Vancouver Book Award.
Ramadan’s novels include The Foghorn Echoes, which won the Lambda Literary Award for Gay Fiction and was nominated for the BC & Yukon Book Prizes and the City of Vancouver Book Award, and his debut, The Clothesline Swing, which won the Independent Publisher Book Award for LGBT Fiction, was longlisted for Canada Reads, and has been translated into multiple languages. His upcoming novel, A Saltwater Requiem, will be published in the US and Canada in April 2027.
Alongside his adult fiction and memoir, Ramadan is the author of the celebrated Salma children’s series, which has earned the Nautilus Book Award, the Publishing Triangle Award, the Middle East Book Award, and several other international accolades.
Beyond his books, Ramadan is deeply committed to community work. Since arriving in Canada as a refugee, he has raised over $300,000 to support LGBTQ+ refugees. He lives in Vancouver with his husband and their two beloved dogs, and spends his free time playing video games with questionable skill.
About the Drag performers:
Pick your jaws up off the floor, it’s your favouriate ABG – Tiffany Ann Co. from Canada’s Drag Race Season 5 and Canada’s Drag Race: All Stars Season 1! Serving face, fashion and high-impact performances that blend choreography, and pop perfection megamixes, Tiffany transforms every stage into a full-blown concert experience. Since her Drag Race debut, Tiffany has traveled around the world performing for thousands – including DragCon UK and a show-stopping moment at the 2025 Juno Music Awards with BBNO$ and a Whitecaps Half-Time Show. Tiffany Ann Co. isn’t just a performer, she is a diamond that demands the spotlight while you are all left screaming “Gimme More!”
AndrogynAss (He/Him) is the fire King of Vancouver Canada. He is a professionally trained actor, and athlete. His performances are high energy, flirty and character driven. His acting skills and stunts have won him 2 titles- Heir to Hell, and Vancouver’s Next Drag Superstar 2024. He even opened for Chappell Roan’s Vancouver Concert in 2023! You can follow him on Instagram or on TikTok @Androgynass_
Where some drag artists are about a singular persona, Jaryd‘s art is about delivering fully-realized unique creations whenever possible. From making looks for over 40 local drag artists to seeing his creations walk the main stage of Canada’s Drag Race, he has honed his skills and refined his eye. Through his own drag he is setting fashion trends and serving editorial makeup, paying close attention to every last detail. With his towering height he seem intimidating, but you can always count on his energetic, theatrical, tongue-in-cheek performances to pull you in and disarm you.
About the poets:
Adèle Barclay is the winner of the 2016 Lit POP Poetry Award, The Walrus’ 2016 Readers’ Choice Award for Poetry, The Fiddlehead’s 2022 Fiction Prize, The New Quarterly’s 2025 Creative Nonfiction Contest, two National Magazine Award Golds. She is the author of the poetry collections, If I Were in a Cage I’d Reach Out for You, which won the 2017 Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize, Renaissance Normcore, and the forthcoming Shame Engine. Excerpts from their forthcoming memoir Black Cherry have received numerous nominations from The Fiddlehead, The Malahat, and CRAFT Literary and placed in contests by Room, PRISM
international, and Event. She teaches creative writing and literature at Capilano University.
Merlin Wiens is a queer aspiring writer and poet from Burnaby currently working toward an Associate degree in Creative Writing at Douglas College. He has an eighteen year old cat and likes cooking and embroidery.
Mary Kelly is an Aotearoa-born poet and current MFA student at UBC’s School of Creative Writing. She is a graduate of The Writer’s Studio ar Simon Fraser University and is the current Editor-in-Chief of SAD Magazine. Mary’s work is featured and forthcoming in The Malahat Review, Grain, Island Magazine, Poetry Wales, Poetry Aotearoa Yearbook, and elsewhere. She has two cats as it is a pre-requisite to becoming a poet.
Juls Macdonell (she/him) writes, studies, and gardens on unceded W̱SÁNEĆ and lək̓ʷəŋən lands. She is a recipient of the Lorna Crozier Scholarship for Poetry, and is an MFA candidate at the University of British Columbia. His work is forthcoming or found in Prairie Fire, The Malahat Review, The /t3mz/ Review, and more.