Cultural Grants, Awards & Support Programs

Vancouver Book Award

Books

City of Vancouver Book Award Past Winners and Finalists (1989 - 2010)

This page lists the winners, the finalists (author, title, and publisher), and the judges of the annual City of Vancouver Book Award since 1989. The winning title is indicated by an * and is bold.

2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 | 1999 | 1998 | 1997
1996 | 1995 | 1994 | 1993 | 1992 | 1991 | 1990 | 1989


2011 Book Award Finalists and Winner

City of Vancouver 2011 Book Award Winner - Michael christie for "The Beggar's Garden"

Mayor Gregor Robertson will presented the 2011 City of Vancouver Book Award and a $2,000 cash prize to the winning author on October 18, 2011 t 3:45 pm. video clip Video Clip of this Item

  • *Michael Christie - The Beggar’s Garden

  • Lynne Bowen - Whoever Gives us Bread

  • Wayde Compton - After Canaan: Essays on Race, Writing, and Region

  • Lesley McKnight - Vancouver Kids

Detailed author information

Judges: Emilie Dierking, Lee Henderson, and Jim Wong-Chu

News Release - Winner of the 2011 Award

Media Coverage: CBC News Globe, Georgia Straight Globe, Globe & Mail Globe, and Vancouver Sun Globe.

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2010 Book Award Finalists and Winners

City of Vancouver 2010 Book Award Winner - Bruce Grenville &  Scott Steedman for "Visions of British Columbia"

  • *Bruce Grenville & Scott Steedman - Visions of British Columbia (Douglas & McIntyre)
  • George Bowering  - The Box (New Star Books)
  • Chris MacDonald (with contributions from Veronica Gillies and Matthew Soules and Adele Weder) - A Guidebook to Contemporary Architecture in Vancouver (Douglas & McIntyre)
  • Matt Hern - Common Ground in a Liquid City (AK Press)

Detailed author information

Judges: Janice Douglas, Jean Wilson, Fred Wah

News Release - Winner of the 2010 Award

PRESENTATION in Council Chamber – 2010 City of Vancouver Book Awards (3:45 pm) Video Clip of this Item Video Clip of this Item

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2009 Book Award Finalists and Winner

City of Vancouver 2009 Book Award Winner Lee Henderson for the Man Game

 

  • *Lee Henderson for The Man Game (Penguin Canada)
  • Gabor Maté for In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts (Vintage Canada)
  • Meredith Quartermain for Nightmarker (NeWest Press)

Detailed author information

Judges: Janice Douglas, Fernanda Vivieros, Fred Wah

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2008 Book Award Finalists and Winners

2008 Vancouver Book Award Finalist - Brad Cran and Gillian Jerome
  • *Brad Cran and Gillian Jerome for Hope in Shadows (Arsenal Pulp Press and Pivot Legal Society)
  • Gary Geddes for Falsework (Goose Lane Editions)
  • Eve Lazaraus for At Home with History (Anvil Press)
  • Kaija Pepper for The Man Next Door Dances: The Art of Peter Bingham (Dance Collection Press)

Detailed author information

Judges: freelance editor (and former Publisher at Raincoast Books/Polestar) Michelle Benjamin; Sophia Books owner Marc Fournier; and Fernanda Viveiros, Executive Director of the Federation of BC Writers.

News Release - Winner of the 2008 Award

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2007 Book Award Finalists and Winner

2007 Vancouver Book Award Finalist - Michael Kluckner for Vancouver Remembered
  • *Michael Kluckner for Vancouver Remembered (Whitecap Books)
  • Grant Arnold and Michael Turner for Fred Herzog: Vancouver Photographs (Douglas and McIntyre and the Vancouver Art Gallery
  • Anita Rau Badami for Can You Hear the Nightbird Call? (Knopf Canada)
  • Brett Josef Grubisic for The Age of Cities (Arsenal Pulp Press)

Detailed author information

Judges: University of B.C. English professor Glenn Deer; bookseller Marc Fournier; and novelist and screenwriter Karen X. Tulchinsky.

News Release - Winner of the 2007 Award

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2006 Book Award Finalists and Winners

2006 Vancouver Book Award Finalist - Jean Barman, Stanley Park's Secret

2006 Vancouver Book Award Finalist - James P. Delgado, Waterfront

  • *Jean Barman, Stanley Park’s Secret: The Forgotten Families of Whoi Whoi, Kanaka Ranch and Brockton Point, Harbour Publishing
  • *James P. Delgado, Waterfront:The Illustrated Maritime History of Greater Vancouver, Stanton Atkins & Dosil.
  • Derek Hayes, Historical Atlas of Vancouver and the Lower Fraser Valley, Douglas & McIntyre
  • Abraham J. Rogatnick, Ian M. Thom, and Adele Weder for B.C. Binning, Douglas & McIntyre

Detailed author information

Judges: Rod Clarke, bookseller; Glenn Deer, University of B.C. English professor; and Laurie Roggeman, former president of the Friends of the Vancouver Public Library.

News Release - Winner of the 2006 Award

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2005 Book Award Finalists and Winner

Dream City: Vancouver and the Global Imagination by Lance Berelowitz, published by Douglas & McIntyre
  • *Lance Berelowitz, Dream City: Vancouver and the Global Imagination, Douglas & McIntyre
  • Wayson Choy, All That Matters, Doubleday Canada
  • Leslie Robertson and Dara Culhane (editors), In Plain Sight: Reflections on Life in Downtown Eastside Vancouver, Talonbooks
  • Various authors, The Vancouver Stories: West Coast Fiction from Canada’s Best Writers, Raincoast Books

Detailed author information

Judges: Keith Bunnell, University of B.C. librarian; Laurie Roggeman, Vancouver booklover and former president of the Friends of the Vancouver Public Library; and author and cultural advocate Max Wyman

News Release - Winner of the 2005 Award

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2004 Book Award Finalists and Winner

Book Cover: LD Mayor Louis Taylor and the Rise of Vancouver
  • *Daniel Francis, L.D.: Mayor Louis Taylor and the Rise of Vancouver, Arsenal Pulp Press
  • Annabel Lyon, The Best Thing for You, McClelland & Stewart
  • Paul Yee, The Bone Collector’s Son, Tradewind Books
  • Caroline Adderson, Sitting Practice, Thomas Allen Publishers (honourable-mention)
  • Maggie de Vries, Missing Sarah, Penguin Canada (honourable-mention)
  • John Punter, The Vancouver Achievement: Urban Planning & Design, UBC Press (honourable-mention)

Detailed author information

Judges: George Fetherling, author; Keith Bunnell, UBC librarian; Crystal Allen, bookseller

News Release - Winner of 2004 Award

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2003 Book Award Finalists and Winners

Heroines

Stan Douglas: Every Building on 100 West Hastings

  • *Lincoln Clarkes, Heroines, essays by Ken Dietrich et al., Anvil Press
  • *Reid Shier, ed, Stan Douglas: Every Building on 100 Block West Hastings, Contemporary Art Gallery/Arsenal Pulp Press
  • John Clague and Bob Turner, Vancouver, City on the Edge, Tricouni Press
  • Fiona Tinwei Lam, Intimate Distances, Nightwood Editions/Harbour Publishing

2003 Finalists and Winners Announced

Judges: Anne Yandle, librarian; George Fetherling, author; Michael Varty, bookseller

News Release - Winner of 2003 Award

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2002 Book Award Finalists and Winner

A Sto:lo-Coast Salish Historical Atlas
  • *Keith Carlson et al., A Sto:lo-Coast Salish Historical Atlas, Douglas and McIntyre
  • Doreen Armitage, Burrard Inlet: A History, Harbour Publishing
  • Cynthia Flood, Making a Stone of the Heart, Key Porter Books
  • Bart Campbell, The Door is Open: Memoir of a Soup Kitchen Volunteer, Anvil Press

Judges: Brenda Peterson, librarian; Denise Ryan, editor; Michael Varty, bookseller

News Release - Winner of 2002 Award

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2001 Book Award Finalists and Winner

Simple Recipes
  • *Madeleine Thien, Simple Recipes, McClelland & Stewart
  • Douglas Coupland, City of Glass – Douglas Coupland’s Vancouver, Douglas & McIntyre
  • Timothy Taylor, Stanley Park, Knopf Canada
  • Gary Wyatt, ed., Susan Point: Coast Salish Artist, Douglas & McIntyre

Judges: Brenda Peterson, librarian; Shamina Senaratne, writer; and Don Stewart, bookseller

News Release - Announcement of Finalists
News Release - Winner of 2001 Award

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2000 Book Award Finalists and Winners

Lions Gate
  • *Lilia D’Acres & Donald Luxton, Lions Gate, Talonbooks
  • Christine Allen & Collin Varner, Gardens of Vancouver, Raincoast Books
  • Wayson Choy, Paper Shadows: A Chinatown Childhood, Penguin Canada
  • Wing Chung Ng, The Chinese in Vancouver: The Pursuit of Identity and Power, 1945-80, UBC Press

Judges: Shamina Senaratne, writer; Nina Smart, SFU librarian; and Joseph Stewart, bookseller

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1999 Book Award Finalists and Winner

1999 City of Vancouver Book Award wiinner "Keys to Kingdoms" by Bud Osbrone, Get to the Point Publishing
  • *Bud Osborn, Keys to Kingdoms, Get to the Point Publishing
  • Shawn Blore and the editors of Vancouver magazine, Vancouver: Secrets of the City, Arsenal Pulp Press
  • Grant Buday, White Lung, Anvil Press

Judges: Joseph Stewart, bookseller; Mark Leier, SFU historian and author; and Bob Sarti, journalist

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1998 Book Award Finalists and Winner

Lions Gate
  • *Chuck Davis, The Greater Vancouver Book: An Urban Encyclopaedia, Linkman Press
  • Betty O’Keefe and Ian Macdonald, The Mulligan Affair: Top Cop on the Take, Heritage House
  • Carmen Rodriguez, And a Body to Remember With,  Arsenal Pulp Press

Judges: Donna Brendon, bookseller, retail consultant; Ian Chunn, B.C. Book Prizes; Vickie Jensen, author.

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1997 Book Award Finalists and Winner

The New Spirit
  • *Rhodri Windsor Liscombe, The New Spirit: Modern Architecture in Vancouver, 1938-1963, Douglas & McIntyre/The Canadian Centre for Architecture
  • John A. Cherrington, Vancouver at the Dawn: A Turn-of-the-Century Portrait, Harbour
  • Fred Thirkell and Bob Scullion, Postcards from the Past: Edwardian Images of Greater Vancouver and the Fraser Valley, Heritage House

Judges: Laura Hackett, bookseller; Judy Taylor, chair of the Vancouver Public Library board of directors; Anne Yandle, former head of UBC Special Collections

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1996 Book Award Finalists and Winner

the-jade-peony.jpg The Jade Peony image by choitoy57
  • *Wayson Choy, The Jade Peony, Douglas & McIntyre
  • Grant Buday, Monday Night Man, Anvil Press
  • Robert A. J. McDonald, Making Vancouver: Class, Status & Social Boundaries 1863-1913, UBC Press

Judges: Mary Ann Cantillon, librarian; Irene Howard, author; Brahm Kornbluth, bookseller

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1995 Book Award Finalists and Winners

Earle Birney: A Life
  • *Elspeth Cameron, Earle Birney: A Life, Penguin Books
  • Lois Simmie with illus. Cynthia Nugent, Mister Got to Go, Red Deer College Press
  • Ulli Stelzer & Robert Davidson, Eagle Transforming: The Art of Robert Davidson, Douglas & McIntyre

Judges: Irene Howard, author; Nancy Stubbs, librarian; Greg Willett, bookseller

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1994 Book Award Finalists and Winner

The Concubine's Children
  • *Denise Chong, The Concubine's Children, Penguin Books
  • Paul Grescoe & Karl Spreitz, Vancouver: Visions of a City, Beautiful B.C.
  • Robin Ward, Robin Ward's Heritage West Coast, Harbour
  • Michael J. Yates, Line Screw, McClelland & Stewart

Judges: Andrea Davies, owner, Hager Books; Chuck Davis, freelance writer; Bruce Macdonald, author

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1993 Book Award Finalists and Winner

Vancouver: A Visual History
  • *Bruce Macdonald, Vancouver: A Visual History, Talonbooks
  • Irene Howard, The Struggle for Social Justice in British Columbia, UBC Press
  • Michael Kluckner & John Atkin, Heritage Walks Around Vancouver, Whitecap

Judges: Gordon Elliott, editor; John Oliphant, writing instructor; Lucy Stewart, owner, Blackberry Books

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1992 Book Award Finalists and Winner

Trees of Vancouver
  • *Gerald Straley, Trees of Vancouver: A Guide to the Common & Unusual Trees of the City, UBC Press
  • Elizabeth Bower, No Forwarding Address, Douglas & McIntyre
  • Paul Grescoe, Flesh Wound, Douglas & McIntyre
  • Gregory Edwards, Hidden Cities, Talonbooks
  • Timothy Oke & Graeme Wynn, Vancouver & Its Regions, UBC Press

Judges: Jean Barman, historian, author; Janice Douglas, librarian; Margaret Gabriel, bookseller

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1991 Book Award Finalists and Winner

Vanishing BC
  • *Michael Kluckner, Vanishing Vancouver, Whitecap
  • Cyril Leonoff, Leonard Frank: An Enterprising Life, Talonbooks
  • Robin Ward, Robin Ward's Vancouver, Harbour

Judges: Sue Baptie, archivist; Sean Rossiter, freelance writer; Don Stewart, bookseller

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1990 Book Award Finalists and Winner

Disappearing Moon Cafe
  • *Sky Lee, Disappearing Moon Cafe, Douglas & McIntyre
  • Rosemary Brown, Being Brown: A Very Public Life, Random House
  • Stan Persky, Buddy's: Meditations on Desire, New Star
  • John Schreiner, The Refiners: A Century of BC Sugar, Douglas & McIntyre

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1989 Book Award Finalists and Winner

Saltwater City
  • *Paul Yee, Saltwater City: An Illustrated History of the Chinese in Vancouver, Douglas & McIntyre

Judges: Jean Barman, historian; Russell Kelly; Doreen Westgarth

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