On September 21, 2025, The West Coast Book Prize Society has announced the 2025 winners for the BC and Yukon Book Prizes. Through eight categories and related programs, the awards celebrate the achievements of British Columbia and Yukon writers, illustrators, and publishers.
Congratulations to the 2025 winners from British Columbia:
Bill Duthie Booksellers’ Choice Award
Curve!: Women Carvers on the Northwest Coast by Dana Claxton and Dr. Curtis Collins (Figure 1 Publishing)
Though women of the Northwest Coast have long carved poles, canoes, panels, and masks, many of these artists have not become as well known outside their communities as their male counterparts. These artists are cherished within their communities for helping to keep traditional carving practices alive, and for maintaining the dances, songs, and ceremonies that are intertwined with visual art production. This book gathers a range of sculptural formats by Indigenous women in order to expand the discourse of carving in the region.
Jim Deva Prize for Writing that Provokes
Something, Not Nothing: A Story of Grief and Love by Sarah Leavitt (Arsenal Pulp Press)
A poignant and beautifully illustrated graphic memoir about love and loss and navigating a new life, Something, Not Nothing delicately articulates the vagaries of grief and the sweet remembrances of enduring love. Moving and impressionistic, this book shows that alongside grief, there is room for peace, joy, and new beginnings.
Hubert Evans Non-Fiction Prize
May it Have a Happy Ending: A Memoir of Finding my Voice as my Mother Lost Hers by Minelle Mahtani (Doubleday Canada)
Minelle Mahtani had taken a leap of faith. A new mother in a new life, she’d moved across the country for love, and soon found herself facing the exciting and terrifying prospect of hosting her own radio show. But as she began to find her place in the majority white newsroom, she was handed devastating news: her Iranian mother had been diagnosed with tongue cancer. Just as Minelle was finding her voice, her mother was losing hers.
Sheila A. Egoff Children’s Literature Prize
Crash Landing by Li Charmaine Anne (Annick Pres)
Jay Wong is spending the last languid days of summer 2010 trying to land a kickflip and begging for something (anything!) to make her senior year different—to finally give her some stories worth telling. This YA debut is a searing ode to queer identity, growing up in an immigrant community, and carving a place for yourself in the world with the help of your friends.
Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize
Death by a Thousand Cuts: Stories by Shashi Bhat (McClelland & Stewart)
A breathtaking and sharply funny collection about the everyday trials and impossible expectations that come with being a woman. With honesty, tenderness, and a skewering wit, these stories boldly wrestle with rage, longing, illness, and bodily autonomy, and their inescapable impacts on a woman’s relationships with others and with herself.
Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize
wet by Leanne Dunic (Talonbooks)
A transient Chinese American model working in Singapore thirsts for the unattainable: fair labour rights, the extinguishing of nearby forest fires, breathable air, healthy habitats for animals, human connection. She navigates place and placelessness while observing other migrant workers toiling outdoors despite the hazardous conditions.
Roderick Haig-Brown Regional Prize
A Haida Wedding by Terri-Lynn Williams-Davidson with Robert Davidson (Heritage House Publishing)
A visual and cultural celebration of a traditional Haida wedding ceremony, exploring its roots, rituals, symbolism, joyfulness, and contemporary significance for a thriving Indigenous Nation.
Christie Harris Illustrated Children’s Literature Prize
A Face is a Poem by Julie Morstad (Tundra Books)
Julie Morstad guides readers through a playful and fantastical exploration of the unique eyes, noses, mouths, freckles, wrinkles, scars and all those one-of-a-kind marks that make up a face. Embracing commonalities and differences alike, A Face Is a Poem is an ode to the unique beauty of each and every person’s appearance, with an empowering message of love.
The Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Literary Excellence
In addition to the eight awards for the annual prize categories, two awards are also given to writers for their body of work and contributions to the literary community. Poet and novelist Fred Wah received the Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Literary Excellence. The award recognizes a writer with a substantial body of literary work throughout their career and who has contributed significantly to the literary community and industry of British Columbia.
Discover all finalists on the BC and Yukon Book Prizes website.
