“White Riot” wins 2024 City of Vancouver Book Award

Literary enthusiasts from across the region gathered on Granville Island this afternoon for the Vancouver Book Award Ceremony, co-presented by the Vancouver Writers Fest, the Vancouver Public Library and the City of Vancouver. In addition to announcing the 2024 Book Award winner, this year’s event also introduced Vancouver’s incoming Poet Laureate. 

2024 City of Vancouver Book Award Winner

Author and artist Henry Tsang has won the 2024 City of Vancouver Book Award for White Riot: The 1907 Anti-Asian Riots in Vancouver External website, opens in new tab, published by Arsenal Pulp Press. 

White Riot is a book of essays and photographs that document Vancouver’s anti-Asian riots of 1907 in the context of contemporary anti-Asian sentiment. Based on 360 Riot Walk, Tsang’s 360-degree video walking tour, White Riot features photographs of the riots colourized by Tsang as well as those of contemporary Vancouver where the riots took place. Essays by Tsang and others speak to the colonial times that preceded and followed the 1907 riots, as well as issues that Chinese and Japanese communities (and other racialized communities) in North America are facing today. 

Learn more about the Book Award, including the 2024 shortlist and information about the selection committee at Vancouver.ca/BookAward. 

Vancouver’s 2025-2027 Poet Laureate

Elee Kraljii Gardiner has been named as the City of Vancouver’s incoming Poet Laureate.

Gardiner is a writer, editor, and creative mentor living in Vancouver. She is the author of two poetry books, Trauma Head and serpentine loop and is the editor of the anthologies Against Death: 35 Essays on Living and V6A: Writing from Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside with John Asfour. A frequent collaborator with choreographers, musicians, and visual artists, Elee is originally from Boston, but she now lives in Vancouver where she directs Vancouver Manuscript Intensive, a program pairing authors with mentors. 

Elee Kraljii Gardiner’s Vancouver Poet Laureate Legacy Project is called “Here, Hearing.” The project links sound with presence, inspired by the origins of poetry and Vancouver's exceptional history of music, recording, and soundscape. "Here, Hearing" focusses on exchange, creation, and collaboration through literary salons, short-term residencies, and a curated collection of audio recordings. “Here, Hearing” is in consultation and involvement with the non-hearing. 

Learn more about the Vancouver Poet Laureate at Vancouver.ca/PoetLaureate.