Darrel J. McLeod, John Vaillant, and Jess Housty among winners of 2024 BC and Yukon Book Prizes
The West Coast Book Prize Society recognized eight authors as well as the Kluane First Nation elders at its annual gala event on September 28
Darrel J. McLeod.
Jess Housty.
John Vaillant. Photo by Ian Hinkle
CREE AUTHOR DARREL J. McLeod, prolific writer John Vaillant, and Haíɫzaqv poet Jess Housty are among the winners of the 2024 BC and Yukon Book Prizes.
The West Coast Book Prize Society announced the results at its annual gala on September 28.
The Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize went to McLeod for A Season in Chezgh’un (Douglas & McIntyre), a subversive novel about a conflicted Indigiqueer educator.
The Hubert Evans Non-Fiction Prize was given to Vaillant for Fire Weather: The Making of a Beast (Knopf Canada). The book uses Fort McMurray’s devastating 2016 wildfire as a jumping-off point to explore the complex relationship between fire and humans over time and looks to our fiery future.
Housty won the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize for Crushed Wild Mint (Nightwood Editions). The collection of poems covers love of the land and ancestral wisdom as well as the author’s own struggles with the natural and supernatural. Housty also won the Bill Duthie Booksellers’ Choice Award.
Other winners include Ian Kennedy, who took home the Roderick Haig-Brown Regional Prize for The Best Loved Boat: The Princess Maquinna (Harbour Publishing). The release looks at how the Canadian Pacific Railway’s ship Princess Maquinna, built in 1913, steamed along the wild west coast of Vancouver Island for more than 40 years, transporting Indigenous people, settlers, missionaries, loggers, cannery workers, prospectors, and travellers before it became accessible by roads.
Sheila A. Egoff Children’s Literature Prize went to Wanda John-Kehewin for Hopeless in Hope (HighWater Press), a story of family and forgiveness that focuses on 14-year-old Eva, whose life is falling apart.
Christie Harris Illustrated Children’s Literature Prize went to Jordan Scott and illustrator Sydney Smith for My Baba’s Garden (Neal Porter Books), which has at its heart the bond between a child and his grandmother.
The Jim Deva Prize for Writing that Provokes was awarded to Helen Knott for Becoming a Matriarch: A Memoir (Knopf Canada). The follow-up to her bestselling debut In My Own Moccasins: A Memoir of Resilience, the book is an account of grief, love, and legacy.
Award winners were selected through a juried system, with five finalists in each prize category.
In addition to the awards for the annual prize categories, two honours were also given to writers for their body of work and contributions to the literary community in B.C. and the Yukon.
The Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Literary Excellence went to Keith Maillard, the author of 15 novels, a book of poetry, and two memoirs. Twelve of his titles have been shortlisted for or won literary prizes. Maillard teaches at UBC’s School of Creative Writing.
Borealis Prize: The Commissioner of Yukon Award for Literary Contribution went to Lhù’áán Mân Ye Shäw, the Kluane First Nation elders. These 22 individuals have provided stories, knowledge, and teachings to several academic, heritage, linguistic, and scientific publications, and they spent six years collaborating with editors to transform oral stories into written words for the 2023 book Lhù’ààn Mân Keyí Dań Kwánje Nààtsat (Kluane Lake Country People Speak Strong).
The gala was held at the University Golf Club in Vancouver. 
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