Eight Victoria authors up for awards
September 16th, 2022
The shortlists for the 2022 City of Victoria Butler Book Prize and City of Victoria Children’s Book Prize highlight eight authors from the Greater Victoria area.
The $5,000 City of Victoria Butler Book Prize, now in its 19th year, is awarded to a Greater Victoria author for the best book published in the categories of fiction, non-fiction or poetry. The five finalists are:
• Arleen Paré for First (Brick Books)
• Esi Edugyan for Out of the Sun: On Race and Storytelling (House of Anansi Press)
• Barry Gough for Possessing Meares Island: A Historian’s Journey into the Past of Clayoquot Sound (Harbour Publishing)
• Gregor Craigie for On Borrowed Time: North America’s Next Big Quake (Goose Lane)
• Amanda Swinimer for The Science and Spirit of Seaweed: Discovering Food, Medicine and Purpose in the Kelp Forests of the Pacific Northwest (Harbour Publishing)
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The $5,000 City of Victoria Children’s Book Prize, in its 15th year, is awarded to a Greater Victoria author or illustrator for the best children’s book. The three finalists are:
• Frances Backhouse for Beavers: Radical Rodents and Ecosystem Engineers (Orca Book Publishers)
• Wendy Proverbs for Aggie and Mudgy: The Journey of Two Kaska Dena Children (Heritage House)
• Teoni Spathelfer for White Raven (Heritage House)
The finalists were selected by an independent jury, comprised of representatives from the local literary arts community, from among books published between April 2021 and March 2022. The winners will be announced at an in-person gala emceed by CBC’s Kathryn Marlow on
Wednesday, October 12, at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $25 and can be purchased from the Victoria Book Prizes website victoriabookprizes.ca.
BACKGROUND
Founded in 2004, the City of Victoria Butler Book Prize is a partnership between the City of Victoria and Brian Butler of Butler Brothers Supplies. The City of Victoria Children’s Book Prize recognizes and celebrates exceptional children’s and youth literature in our community. The prize was established in 2008 by the late Mel Bolen of Bolen Books.
Additional sponsors include the Union Club of British Columbia, Friesens Corporation, Munro’s Books, Russell Books, Ivy’s Bookshop, CBC Radio, Island Blue Print Co., the Greater Victoria Public Library, Magnolia Hotel & Spa and Chateau Victoria Hotel & Suites.
The Victoria Book Prize Society establishes policy and criteria for the prizes, administers the competition and appoints the juries. For more information: victoriabookprizes.ca or www.victoria.ca
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