Incite: BC and Yukon Book Prizes ft. Carleigh Baker, Billy-Ray Belcourt, Christopher Cheung, Sarah Leavitt, and Loghan Paylor

Meet acclaimed local writers and celebrate their trailblazing new books at this Incite event, featuring authors shortlisted for this year’s BC and Yukon Book Prizes! We’re thrilled to welcome all five finalists for the 2025 Jim Deva Prize for Writing That Provokes, which recognizes writing that challenges or provokes the ideas and forces that shape what writing, art, and/or society can become.

• Carleigh Baker, Last Woman: Stories — A blistering short story collection that delves into fear for the future, intergenerational misunderstandings, and the complexities of belonging.
• Billy-Ray Belcourt, Coexistence: Stories — A must-read collection of intersecting stories about Indigenous love and loneliness from the author of A History of My Brief Body and A Minor Chorus.
• Christopher Cheung, Under the White Gaze: Solving the Problem of Race and Representation in Canadian Journalism — A candid investigation into the state of race in Canadian media today that challenges the way we think about the news, and calls on newsrooms to think critically about representation.
• Sarah Leavitt, Something, Not Nothing: A Story of Grief and Love — A poignant and beautifully illustrated graphic memoir articulating cartoonist Sarah Leavitt’s grief after her partner of twenty-two years, Donimo, died with medical assistance.
• Loghan Paylor, The Cure for Drowning — A boundary-pushing love story and wartime Canadian historical novel that boldly centres queer and non-binary characters in unprecedented ways.

The prize’s namesake, Jim Deva, opened Little Sister’s Gay and Lesbian Bookstore and Art Emporium with his partner Bruce Smyth, and was a pillar of the LGBTQ+ community, championing the rights of the queer community, sex workers, and anyone who was not free to be themselves. In a time of fraying social connections and disturbing attacks on the rights of multiple marginalized communities, we are honoured to gather and discuss books that challenge, comfort, and inspire visions of a more empathetic society. The event will be hosted by Megan Cole, the BC & Yukon Book Prizes Interim Executive Director

For more information visit: https://writersfest.bc.ca/event/bcybp-2025

About Incite
Presented by the Vancouver Writers Fest and Vancouver Public Library, Incite is a free quarterly series offering fascinating conversations with celebrated authors and emerging talents. Incite is open to all, in-person at the VPL’s central branch or online. Books will be for sale by Book Warehouse, a division of Black Bond Books, and most events will have a signing after the talk. Can’t make the date? Sign up for the livestream to receive the recording in your inbox!