B.C. and Yukon Book Prizes increase awards
B.C. and Yukon Book Prizes is boosting awards for authors, reinstating the Lieutenant-governor’s Award for Literary Excellence, and hoping to bring a new sense of excitement to the West Coast literary landscape.
The prize’s new executive director, Sean Cranbury, said the seven prize categories will increase their awards from $2,000 to $3,000 each, and he hopes to see the amounts continue to increase annually.
“This will bring the B.C. and Yukon Book Prizes in line with other awards, and demonstrate that we are investing in the publication of excellent writers up and down the coast,” he said.
In addition, a new award celebrates the work of the late Jim Deva, LGBTQ2S+ activist and former owner of Little Sisters Bookstore. The $5,000 prize will honour “writing that provokes,” Cranbury said.
“An award can increase the profile for the writer and the publisher of the book, and push a book’s discoverability up immeasurably.”
For nominated writers comes respect and heft, “but you are also getting cash money and that’s a boost,” Cranbury said.
Shortlists are announced in early March each year. Nominees tour the province and bring their work into some of B.C.’s more remote communities.
“We are always asking how can we do a better job of bringing more books to more people in more communities,” said Cranbury.
Cranbury is also the founder, president and co-host of the Real Vancouver Writers Series, a local reading series that brings diverse voices and new and established writers together four times a year.
He said he thinks the moment is right to expand the B.C. and Yukon Book Prizes and celebrate B.C.’s rich literary culture.
“There is a kind of renaissance that is happening, and that will be reflected in the lieutenant-governor’s list, and is already reflected in the diversity of the writers that are being published out here,” said Cranbury.
B.C. and Yukon Book Prizes are independently funded through a combination of sponsorships and grants, and include seven categories.