B.C. authors & illustrators shortlisted
March 07th, 2017
Adèle Barclay is one of approximately thirty-five B.C. authors and illustrators shortlisted for seven B.C. Book Prizes.
The 33rd annual BC Book Prizes gala awards will be presented in Vancouver on April 29.
Adèle Barclay of Vancouver is shortlisted for the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize for her debut collection, If I Were in a Cage I’d Reach Out for You (Nightwood Editions, $18.95). Her poems, according to publicity materials, “dwell in surreal pockets of the everyday warped landscapes of modern cities and flood into the murky basin of the intimate.” They have appeared in The Fiddlehead, PRISM international, Matrix, The Pinch and others. If I Were in a Cage I’d Reach Out for You was also shortlisted for the 2015 Robert Kroetsch Award for Innovative Poetry, won the 2016 LitPop Awards for Poetry and received the Reader’s Choice Award for the 2016 Walrus Poetry Prize.
As usual, nominations between men and women were relatively balanced.
Double nominee include Michael Layland for A Perfect Eden: Encounters by Early Explorers of Vancouver Island (TouchWood Editions), nominated for the Haig-Brown Prize and the Bill Duthie Booksellers’ Choice Award, as well as co-authors Roy Henry Vickers and Robert Budd, for Peace Dancer (Harbour Publishing).
One prize is limited to books from B.C. publishing houses; for the others, B.C. publishers have 18 nominations and non-B.C. publishers have 12.
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Deborah Campbell, Hubert Evans Prize nominee
Margriet Ruurs, Christie Harris co-nominee
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE. Tuesday, March 7, 2017. Vancouver.
BC Book Prizes 2017 Shortlists Announced
Vancouver, BC – The West Coast Book Prize Society is pleased to announce the names of the finalists vying for recognition in seven categories at the 33rd Annual BC Book Prizes.
Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize awarded to the author of the best work of fiction:
Joan Haggerty, The Dancehall Years (Mother Tongue Publishing)
Anosh Irani, The Parcel (Knopf Canada)
Ashley Little, Niagara Motel (Arsenal Pulp Press)
Jennifer Manuel, The Heaviness of Things That Float (Douglas and McIntyre)
Jen Sookfong Lee, The Conjoined (ECW Press)
Roderick Haig-Brown Regional Prize to recognize the author(s) of the book that contributes most to the enjoyment and understanding of British Columbia:
Anthony Kenyon, The Recorded History of the Liard Basin 1790-1910: Where British Columbia joins the Yukon and N.W.T. (Fort Nelson News)
Michael Layland, A Perfect Eden: Encounters by Early Explorers of Vancouver Island (TouchWood Editions)
David Pitt-Brooke, Crossing Home Ground: A Grassland Odyssey through Southern Interior British Columbia (Harbour Publishing)
Christopher Pollon, with photos by Ben Nelms, The Peace in Peril: The Real Cost of the Site C Dam (Harbour Publishing)
Neil J. Sterritt, Mapping My Way Home: A Gitxsan History (Creekstone Press)
Hubert Evans Non-Fiction Prize awarded to the author of the best original non-fiction literary work:
Carmen Aguirre, Mexican Hooker #1: And My Other Roles Since the Revolution (Random House Canada)
Deborah Campbell, A Disappearance in Damascus: A Story of Friendship and Survival in the Shadow of War (Knopf Canada)
Mohamed Fahmy, with Carol Shaben, The Marriott Cell: An Epic Journey from Cairo’s Scorpion Prison to Freedom (Random House Canada)
Joy Kogawa, Gently to Nagasaki (Caitlin Press)
Mark Leiren-Young, The Killer Whale Who Changed the World (Greystone Books)
Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize awarded to the author of the best work of poetry:
Adèle Barclay, If I Were in a Cage I’d Reach Out for You (Nightwood Editions)
Anne Fleming, poemw (Pedlar Press)
Juliane Okot Bitek, 100 Days (University of Alberta Press)
Rob Taylor, The News (Gaspereau Press)
Richard Therrien, Sleeping in Tall Grass (University of Alberta Press)
Christie Harris Illustrated Children’s Literature Prize presented to the best illustrated book written for children:
Monique Gray Smith, illustrated by Julie Flett, My Heart Fills with Happiness (Orca Book Publishers)
Julie Morstad, illustrated by Julie Morstad, Today (Simply Read Books)
Margriet Ruurs, illustrated by Nizar Ali Badr, Stepping Stones: A Refugee Family’s Journey (Orca Book Publishers)
Nikki Tate, Deep Roots: How Trees Sustain Our Planet (Orca Book Publishers)
Roy Henry Vickers and Robert Budd, illustrated by Roy Henry Vickers, Peace Dancer (Harbour Publishing)
Sheila A. Egoff Children’s Literature Prize awarded to the best non-illustrated book written for children:
Kathleen Cherry, Everyday Hero (Orca Book Publishers)
Iain Lawrence, The Skeleton Tree (Tundra Books)
R.K. McLay, The Rahtrum Chronicles: The Dream (Fifth House Publishers)
Kit Pearson, A Day of Signs and Wonders (HarperCollins Publishers)
Robin Stevenson, Pride: Celebrating Diversity & Community (Orca Book Publishers)
Bill Duthie Booksellers’ Choice Award presented to the originating publisher and author(s) of the best book in terms of public appeal, initiative, design, production, and content:
Aaron Chapman, The Last Gang in Town: The Epic Story of the Vancouver Police vs. the Clark Park Gang (Arsenal Pulp Press)
Wade Davis, Wade Davis: Photographs (Douglas and McIntyre)
Michael Layland, A Perfect Eden: Encounters by Early Explorers of Vancouver Island (TouchWood Editions)
Roy Henry Vickers and Robert Budd, Peace Dancer (Harbour Publishing)
Richard Wagamese, Embers: One Ojibway’s Meditations (Douglas and McIntyre)
The winners in the seven categories above will be announced at the Lieutenant Governor’s BC Book Prizes Gala on Sat, April 29, 2017 at the Pinnacle Harbourfront Hotel in Vancouver. British Columbia’s Lieutenant Governor, the Honourable Judith Guichon, OBC, will be in attendance.
Also, at the Gala, the recipient of the 2017 Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Literary Excellence will be presented (announcement date April 4). This award was established in 2003 by the Honourable Iona Campagnolo to recognize British Columbia writers who have contributed to the development of literary excellence in the province. In 2016, the 13th annual award was presented to Alan Twigg. Winners in the seven categories and the recipient of the Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Literary Excellence will collectively receive $19,000 in cash prizes.
A selection of the shortlisted authors (to be announced in the coming weeks) will be part of BC Book Prizes On Tour. This author reading tour will take finalists to schools and public venues in many communities throughout BC in April 2017.
BC BOOK PRIZES 2017 SHORTLISTS ANNOUNCED: March 7, 2017
Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Literary Excellence announcement: April 4, 2017
BC BOOK PRIZES ON TOUR: April 2017, FREE events in several BC communities (more info to come)
BC BOOK PRIZES SOIRÉE: April 5, 2017; Vancouver, location TBA (a casual celebratory event to kick off the festivities)
LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR’S BC BOOK PRIZES GALA: Saturday, April 29, 2017, Pinnacle Harbourfront Hotel in Vancouver; Tickets online starting Monday, March 13, 2017
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