2011 Vancouver Book Award Finalists
Author & Title Information
FINALIST
Lynne Bowen
Whoever Gives us Bread
WINNER!!
Michael Christie
The Beggar’s Garden
FINALIST
Wayde Compton
After Canaan: Essays on Race, Writing, and Region
FINALIST
Lesley McKnight
Vancouver Kids
The four short-listed titles were chosen by an independent jury that included:
- Emilie Dierking, bookseller
- Lee Henderson, author and 2009 City of Vancouver Book Award winner
- Jim Wong-Chu, poet and editor
This jury also selected the winning entry.
2011 FINALIST
Lynne Bowen
Whoever Gives us Bread
The Book: Whoever Gives us Bread is a comprehensive non-fiction title that recounts the history of Italian immigrant settlement in a burgeoning British Columbia and the Italian-Canadian contribution to Vancouver.
Lynne Bowen was the Rogers Communications Co-Chair of Creative Non-fiction Writing at the University of British Columbia between 1992 and 2006. Aside from Whoever Gives us Bread, she has written five other books on Western Canadian History, including Robert Dunsmuir, Those Lake People: Stories of Cowichan Lake, Muddling Through: The Remarkable Story of the Barr Colonists, Three Dollar Dreams, and Boss Whistle. For her non-fiction writing, Lynne has won the Lieutenant-Governor’s Medal for Writing British Columbia History and the Hubert Evans Non-Fiction Prize.
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2011 WINNER!!
Michael Christie
The Beggar’s Garden
The Book: Set in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, The Beggar’s Garden is Christie’s debut collection of nine linked stories, each full of wit and sensitivity for its misfit characters.
Michael Christie received his MFA in creative writing at the University of British Columbia. Originally a professional skate border, he has also worked in a homeless shelter in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside and provided outreach to the severely mentally ill. Christie lives in Thunder Bay, Ontario, with his wife and son.
Photo Credit: Cedar Bowers
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2011 FINALIST
Wayde Compton
After Canaan: Essays on Race, Writing, and Region
The Book: An insightful collection of essays, After Canaan: Essays on Race, Writing, and Region examines the politics of race in Western Canada and Vancouver’s black history, politics and contemporary culture.
Wayde Compton is the current Writer-in-Residence at the Vancouver Public Library. A diverse artist, Compton is the author of two poetry collections, 49th Parallel Psalm (shortlisted for the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize) and Performance Bond, and is the editor of Bluesprint: Black British Columbian Literature and Orature. Compton also performs turntable-based sound poetry, teaches English composition and literature at Emily Carr University of Art + Design and Coquitlam College, and is a founding member of the Hogan’s Alley Memorial Project. After Canaan is Compton’s first non-fiction book.
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2011 FINALIST
Lesley McKnight
Vancouver Kids
The Book: Vancouver Kids is based on the real lives of Vancouver kids, and is a unique collection of 22 stories that tells the tale of Vancouver’s diverse and eclectic history through the eyes of children.
Lesley McKnight is a freelance researcher and writer living in Vancouver with her husband and three children. Her articles have been published in the likes of The Globe & Mail and the Vancouver Courier.
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