The West Coast Book Prize Society has announced the 2025 finalists 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. The winners of each category will be announced at a gala in Vancouver later this year.
Readers can celebrate the 2025 finalists at a Soirée hosted by the Book Warehouse on West Broadway. Join them on May 22 at 6:30pm PT for an evening bringing together great books, book lovers, and the shortlisted authors, illustrators, and publishers. This is a free event (no registration required) and books will be available for purchase.
In addition, Upstart & Crow is hosting a celebration for the finalists on June 5 at 6:30pm PT. Attendees can hear readings from shortlisted authors Shashi Bhat, Leanne Dunic, and Minelle Mahtani and toast the wonderful local writerly talent. Tickets are free, but RSVPs are encouraged via Eventbrite as capacity is limited.
Here are the 2025 finalists from British Columbia:
Bill Duthie Booksellers’ Choice Award
- Lightning Strikes the Silence: A Lane Winslow Mystery by Iona Whishaw (TouchWood Editions)
- A Perfect Day for a Walk by Bill Arnott (Arsenal Pulp Press)
- Curve!: Women Carvers on the Northwest Coast by Dana Claxton and Dr. Curtis Collins (Figure 1 Publishing)
- Untold Tales of Old British Columbia by Daniel Marshall (Ronsdale Press)
- Always On Call: Adventures in Nursing, Ranching, and Rural Living by Marion McKinnon Crook (Heritage House Publishing)
Christie Harris Illustrated Children’s Literature Prize
- Lost & Found: Based on a True Story by Mei Yu (Union Square & Co. / Union Square Kids)
- A Face is a Poem by Julie Morstad (Tundra Books)
- This Land Is a Lullaby by Tonya Simpson illustrated by Delreé Dumont (Orca Book Publishers)
- We’re Happy You’re Here by Julie Wilkins illustrated by Brady Sato (Orca Book Publishers)
Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize
- The Knot of My Tongue by Zehra Naqvi (McClelland & Stewart)
- Midway by Kayla Czaga; (House of Anansi Press)
- shima by shō yamagushiku (McClelland & Stewart)
- Teeth by Dallas Hunt (Nightwood Editions)
- wet by Leanne Dunic (Talonbooks)
Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize
- Black Sunflowers by Cynthia LeBrun (Fitzhenry & Whiteside)
- Coexistence: Stories by Billy-Ray Belcourt (Hamish Hamilton)
- Death by a Thousand Cuts: Stories by Shashi Bhat (McClelland & Stewart)
- A Reluctant Mother by Deirdre Simon Dore (Ronsdale Press)
- The Other Valley by Scott Alexander Howard (Simon & Schuster Canada)
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)
- Medicine Wheel for the Planet: A Journey Toward Personal and Ecological Healing by Dr. Jennifer Grenz (Knopf Canada)
- Our Crumbling Foundation: How We Solve Canada’s Housing Crisis by Gregor Craigie (Random House Canada)
- More Richly in Earth: A Poet’s Search for Mary MacLeod by Marilyn Bowering (McGill-Queen’s University Press)
- Crooked Teeth: A Queer Syrian Refugee Memoir by Danny Ramadan (Viking Canada)
Jim Deva Prize for Writing that Provokes
- Under the White Gaze: Solving the Problem of Race and Representation in Canadian Journalism by Christopher Cheung (UBC Press, Purich Books)
- The Cure for Drowning by Loghan Paylor (Random House Canada)
- Last Woman: Stories by Carleigh Baker (McClelland & Stewart)
- Coexistence: Stories by Billy-Ray Belcourt (Hamish Hamilton)
- Something, Not Nothing: A Story of Grief and Love by Sarah Leavitt (Arsenal Pulp Press)
Roderick Haig-Brown Regional Prize
- A Haida Wedding by Terri-Lynn Williams-Davidson with Robert Davidson (Heritage House Publishing)
- Who We Are: Four Questions For a Life and a Nation by Murray Sinclair with Sara Sinclair (McClelland & Stewart)
- Death by a Thousand Cuts: Stories by Shashi Bhat (McClelland & Stewart)
- Wildlife Congregations: A Priest’s Year of Gaggles, Colonies and Murders by the Salish Sea by Laurel Dykstra (Hancock House Publishers)
Sheila A. Egoff Children’s Literature Prize
- Crash Landing by Li Charmaine Anne (Annick Pres)
- Song of Freedom, Song of Dreams by Shari Green (Andrews McMeel Publishing)
- Elvis, Me, and the Postcard Winter by Leslie Gentile (DCB Young Readers, an imprint of Cormorant Books)
- Skater Boy by Anthony Nerada (Soho Teen)
- Picture a Girl by Jenny Manzer (Orca Book Publishers)
View the complete list of nominees on the BC and Yukon Book Prizes website.
