BC BookWorld founder honoured for promoting province’s literature
Alan Twigg, editor of BC BookWorld, has been named the recipient of this year’s Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Literary Excellence.
“As the founder, publisher, editor and principal writer of BC BookWorld, Alan Twigg has been the tireless champion of the B.C. writing and publishing community for almost 40 years,” the prize jury said in its citation. “(We) are delighted to recognize both his literary contributions and the constant nourishment he has provided for so many years to this province’s literary community.”
Twigg is also co-founder of the BC Book Prizes and the “primary organizer and implementer of every major literary award presented in this province,” the jury said. As well as writing most of every issue of BC BookWorld since 1987, Twigg has written the vast majority of 1,250 entries on the ABCBookWorld reference site, which some call the Wikipedia of B.C. literature, the West Coast Book Prize Society said in a news release.
The Canadian Centre for Studies in Publishing called ABCBookWorld “the most essential cog in the infrastructure” that supports B.C. writing and publishing.
Twigg is also the driving force behind the new BCBookLook website, and he created all 200 entries for the new Literary Map of B.C. He has also written 17 books, among many other accomplishments. He was awarded the Order of Canada in 2014.
The jury was Betty Kellor, teacher, mentor, editor, writer, and 2015 recipient of the Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Literary Excellence; Peter Darbyshire, author and editor for The Province newspaper; and Barbara Pope, co-owner of The Mulberry Bush Book Stores in Parksville and Qualicum Beach. The award, which comes with a $5,000 cash prize, will be presented in Victoria on April 30.