B.C. authors win First nation awards
April 01st, 2021
Richard Van Camp (right) has won the 2020 CODE Burt Award in the English Language category (worth $6,000) for Moccasin Square Gardens (Douglas & McIntyre $19.95), which also took the 2020 Alberta Literary Awards’ Georges Bugnet Award for Fiction.
The CODE Burt Award is for First Nations, Inuit and Metis Young Adult Literature, and is a Canadian literary award and readership initiative that recognizes excellence in Indigenous-authored literature for young adults (ages 12-18).
The characters in Van Camp’s short story collection inhabit Denendeh, the land of the people north of the sixtieth parallel. From his publisher: “These stories are filled with in-laws, outlaws and common-laws. Get ready for illegal wrestling moves (‘The Camel Clutch’), pinky promises, a doctored casino, extraterrestrials or ‘Sky People,’ love, lust and prayers for peace.
“While this is Van Camp’s most hilarious short story collection, it’s also haunted by the lurking presence of the Wheetago, human-devouring monsters of legend that have returned due to global warming and the greed of humanity. The stories in Moccasin Square Gardens show that medicine power always comes with a price.” 978-1-9268-8651-0
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Shane Koyczan
Inconvenient Skin (Theytus Books $29.95) by Shane Koyczan, written in English and Cree with translation by Soloman Ratt, won the CODE Burt Award in the Indigenous Language category. Illustrations are by Joseph M. Sanchez, Jim Logan, Kent Monkman and Nadya Kwandibens. The author and illustrator(s) share the prize of $6,000. 978-1-9268-8651-0
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