Winners of BC and Yukon Book Prizes 2022 announced
Audrey Thomas, Tara Borin, Ruth Ozeki, and Jordan Abel among the authors recognized at the 38th annual gala
THE WEST COAST Book Prize Society has announced winners of the 38th annual BC and Yukon Book Prizes.
The annual prizes recognize the achievements of BC and Yukon authors, illustrators, and publishers. Award winners are selected through a juried system, with five finalists, including the winner, in each prize category. The awards were presented September 24 at the 38th annual BC and Yukon Book Prizes Gala, hosted by poet Jillian Christmas at the University Golf Club.
Jordan Abel.
Ruth Ozeki’s The Book of Form and Emptiness (Viking/Penguin Random House Canada) won the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize, while Jordan Abel took home the Hubert Evans Non-Fiction Prize for NISHGA (McClelland & Stewart/Penguin Random House Canada).
The Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize went to Henry Doyle for No Shelter (Anvil Press).
Luschiim Arvid Charlie and Nancy J. Turner’s Luschiim’s Plants: Traditional Indigenous Foods, Materials and Medicine (Harbour Publishing) won the Roderick Haig-Brown Regional Prize.
The Sheila A. Egoff Children’s Literature Prize was awarded to Robbie Waisman with Susan McClelland for Boy from Buchenwald: The True Story of a Holocaust Survivor (Bloomsbury).
Julie Morstad took home the Christie Harris Illustrated Children’s Literature Prize for Time is a Flower (Tundra Books/Penguin Random House Canada).
Harsha Walia’s Border and Rule: Global Migration, Capitalism, and the Rise of Racist Nationalism (Fernwood Publishing) earned the Jim Deva Prize for Writing that Provokes.
Bill Duthie Booksellers’ Choice Award was awarded to Suzanne Simard for Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest (Allen Lane Canada/Penguin Random House).
Two awards were also given to writers for their body of work and contributions to the literary community throughout their careers.
The Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Literary Excellence went to Audrey Thomas, author of several acclaimed novels, including, Intertidal Life, which was nominated for the Governor General’s Award for Fiction. Over her 40-year career, Thomas has also written short story collections and radio drama, won three Ethel Wilson Fiction Prizes, and been awarded multiple honours from the Writers’ Trust of Canada. In 2008, she was made an Officer of the Order of Canada.
Tara Borin.
The Borealis Prize: The Commissioner of Yukon Award for Literary Contribution was given to Tara Borin, whose debut poetry collection is called The Pit. A graduate of SFU's The Writers' Studio, Borin is a board member for Yukon Words and has 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.
The BC and Yukon Book Prizes were established in 1985 to celebrate the achievements of BC and Yukon writers and publishers. For more information, see BC and Yukon Book Prizes.
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