BC and Yukon Book Prizes unveil 2025 shortlists, spanning titles by Li Charmaine Anne, Murray Sinclair, and more — Stir
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BC and Yukon Book Prizes unveil 2025 shortlists, spanning titles by Li Charmaine Anne, Murray Sinclair, and more

A celebratory soirée at the Book Warehouse on May 22 honours authors across eight categories

 
 
 

THE WEST COAST BOOK Prize Society has just announced shortlists across eight categories for this year’s BC and Yukon Book Prizes.

Winners of the 41st annual event will be announced on September 21 at the BC and Yukon Book Prizes Gala, which will be held at the University Golf Club. Additionally, recipients of this year’s Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Literary Excellence and the Commissioner of Yukon Award for Literary Contribution—also known as the Borealis Prize—will be revealed at the gala.

The shortlisted authors will be honoured during a celebratory soirée at the West Broadway location of the Book Warehouse on May 22 at 6:30 pm. It will be open to the public, with copies of the finalists’ books available for purchase onsite.

Nominees for the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize, which is awarded to the author of the best fiction work, include:

  • Billy-Ray Belcourt, Coexistence: Stories (Hamish Hamilton Canada)

  • Shashi Bhat, Death by a Thousand Cuts: Stories (McClelland & Stewart)

  • Deirdre Simon Dore, A Reluctant Mother (Ronsdale Press)

  • Scott Alexander Howard, The Other Valley (Scribner Canada)

  • Cynthia LeBrun, Black Sunflowers (Fitzhenry & Whiteside)

 
 

The authors of original non-fiction literary works vying for the Hubert Evans Non-Fiction Prize are:

  • Marilyn Bowering, More Richly in Earth: A Poet’s Search for Mary MacLeod (McGill-Queen’s University Press)

  • Gregor Craigie, Our Crumbling Foundation: How We Solve Canada’s Housing Crisis (Random House Canada)

  • Jennifer Grenz, Medicine Wheel for the Planet: A Journey Toward Personal and Ecological Healing (Knopf Canada)

  • Minelle Mahtani, May It Have a Happy Ending: A Memoir of Finding My Voice as My Mother Lost Hers (Doubleday Canada)

  • Danny Ramadan, Crooked Teeth: A Queer Syrian Refugee Memoir (Viking Canada)

Up for the Roderick Haig-Brown Regional Prize, which recognizes the author of a book that contributes to the renewed enjoyment and understanding of B.C. and Yukon, are: 

  • Shashi Bhat, Death by a Thousand Cuts: Stories (McClelland & Stewart)

  • Terri-Lynn Williams-Davidson with Robert Davidson, A Haida Wedding (Heritage House Publishing)

  • Laurel Dykstra, Wildlife Congregations: A Priest’s Year of Gaggles, Colonies and Murders by the Salish Sea (Hancock House Publishers)

  • Murray Sinclair with Sara Sinclair, Who We Are: Four Questions for a Life and a Nation (McClelland & Stewart)

  • Tanya Talaga, The Knowing (HarperCollins Publishers)

Nominees for the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize include:

  • Kayla Czaga, Midway (House of Anansi Press)

  • Leanne Dunic, wet (Talonbooks)

  • Dallas Hunt, Teeth (Nightwood Editions)

  • Zehra Naqvi, The Knot of My Tongue (McClelland & Stewart)

  • shō yamagushiku, shima (McClelland & Stewart)

 
 

The Jim Deva Prize for Writing That Provokes is presented to an author whose book challenges a concept that shapes writing, art, or society. This year’s nominees are: 

  • Carleigh Baker, Last Woman: Stories (McClelland & Stewart)

  • Billy-Ray Belcourt, Coexistence: Stories (Hamish Hamilton Canada)

  • Christopher Cheung, Under the White Gaze: Solving the Problem of Race and Representation in Canadian Journalism (UBC Press, Purich Books)

  • Sarah Leavitt, Something, Not Nothing: A Story of Grief and Love (Arsenal Pulp Press)

  • Loghan Paylor, The Cure for Drowning (Random House Canada)

Up for the Christie Harris Illustrated Children’s Literature Prize are the following:

  • Author Jessica J. Lee and illustrator Elaine Chen, A Garden Called Home (Tundra Books)

  • Julie Morstad, A Face Is a Poem (Tundra Books)

  • Author Tonya Simpson and illustrator Delreé Dumont, This Land Is a Lullaby (Orca Book Publishers)

  • Author Julie Wilkins and illustrator Brady Sato, We’re Happy You’re Here (Orca Book Publishers)

  • Mei Yu, Lost & Found: Based on a True Story (Union Square & Co. / Union Square Kids)

In the realm of non-illustrated children’s books, nominees for the Sheila A. Egoff Children’s Literature Prize include:

  • Li Charmaine Anne, Crash Landing (Annick Press)

  • Leslie Gentile, Elvis, Me, and the Postcard Winter (DCB Young Readers)

  • Shari Green, Song of Freedom, Song of Dreams: A Novel in Verse (Andrews McMeel Publishing)

  • Jenny Manzer, Picture a Girl (Orca Book Publishers)

  • Anthony Nerada, Skater Boy (Soho Teen)

 
 

And finally, nominees for the Bill Duthie Booksellers’ Choice Award, which is presented to the release with the best public appeal, are:

  • Bill Arnott, A Perfect Day for a Walk: The History, Cultures, and Communities of Vancouver, on Foot (Arsenal Pulp Press)

  • Dana Claxton and Curtis Collins, Curve!: Women Carvers on the Northwest Coast (Figure 1 Publishing)

  • Daniel Marshall, Untold Tales of Old British Columbia (Ronsdale Press)

  • Marion McKinnon Crook, Always on Call: Adventures in Nursing, Ranching, and Rural Living (Heritage House Publishing)

  • Iona Whishaw, Lightning Strikes the Silence: A Lane Winslow Mystery (TouchWood Editions)

Communities across B.C. and Yukon will get a chance to hear readings from several of the shortlisted authors during BC and Yukon Book Prizes on Tour, which will take place from May to September.

Check back in with Stir to find out this year’s prize winners when they’re announced at the beginning of fall.  

 
 
 
 
 

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