City of Vancouver Book Award

The annual City of Vancouver Book Award has been recognizing authors of excellence of any genre since 1989. These authors contribute to the appreciation and understanding of Vancouver's history, unique character, or the achievements of its residents.

The $3,000 prize is funded by the City's Publishing Reserve, which was established in 1977 as a permanent legacy for Vancouver writers and publishers.

Read the information bulletin 2019 City of Vancouver Book Award finalists announced

2019 short list

Eve Lazarus

Murder by Milkshake: An Astonishing True Story of Adultery, Arsenic, and a Charismatic Killer

Arsenal Pulp Press
Eve Lazarus is a Vancouver writer with a passion for true crime stories, cold cases, and non-traditional history. She is the author of five books:
- Murder by Milkshake: An Astonishing True Story of Adultery, Arsenic, and a Charismatic Killer, a finalist for the Bill Duthie Booksellers’ Choice Award (BC Book Prizes) and an Arthur Ellis Award (Crime Writers of Canada)
- Cold Case Vancouver: The City's Most Baffling Unsolved Murders, a finalist for the Bill Duthie Booksellers' Choice Award (BC Book Prizes)
- Blood, Sweat, and Fear: The Story of Inspector Vance, Vancouver's First Forensic Investigator, a finalist for an Arthur Ellis Award (Crime Writers of Canada)
- Sensational Vancouver and Sensational Victoria
- At Home with History: The Untold Secrets of Greater Vancouver's Heritage Houses, a 2008 City of Vancouver book award finalist
She lives in North Vancouver.
Philip Huynh

The Forbidden Purple City

Goose Lane Editions

Philip Huynh was born in Vancouver to parents who had fled Vietnam during the civil war. His stories have been published in the Malahat Review, the New Quarterly, Event, and the Journey Prize Anthology, and cited in The Best American Stories.

He is the winner of the Open Season Award from the Malahat Review, a Glenna Luschei Prairie Schooner Award, and the Asian Canadian Writers' Workshop Emerging Writers Award.

A practicing lawyer, he lives in Richmond, BC.
Robert Watt and Susan Point

People Among the People: The public art of Susan Point

The Museum of Anthropology
Robert Watt

MA, AIH, LVO studied at UBC and Carleton University before working in the Public Archives of Canada, Capilano College, and as the City Archivist for the City of Vancouver.

In 1973 he joined the Centennial Museum (now known as the Museum of Vancouver) as the Curator of History. While at the museum Mr. Watt developed a deep and enduring interest in the art and cultures of the Indigenous Peoples of the West Coast.

In 1977 he worked with Bill Reid on the creation of the Jubilee Goldsmith’s Workshop for young Indigenous artists. This interest led to Mr. Watt’s introduction to the earliest stages of Susan Point’s art. He was appointed Director of the Museum in 1980.

In 1988, Mr. Watt was appointed the first Chief Herald of Canada. He oversaw the creation of a contemporary and Canadian system of heraldic identification before his retirement in 2007, when then–Governor General Michaëlle Jean appointed him Rideau Herald Emeritus.

From 2009 to 2012, he served as Citizenship Judge in the Vancouver office of Citizenship and Immigration Canada.

Mr. Watt has received many honours and awards including the 125th Canadian Confederation Medal and the Queen’s Golden and Diamond Jubilee medals.

In 2008, he was invested into the Royal Victorian Order by Prince Charles at Buckingham Palace. Currently, Mr. Watt serves as President of l’Académie international d’héraldique and Honorary Colonel of the 12th Vancouver Field Ambulance.

He lives in North Vancouver with his wife, Alison Jean Watt.

Susan Point

OC, DFA, DLITT, RCA, is a descendant of the Musqueam, Coast Salish Peoples; she is the daughter of Edna Grant and Anthony Point. Susan inherited the beliefs of her culture and the ancestral traditions of her people from her mother, Edna, who learned from her mother, Mary Charlie-Grant.

Susan’s distinctive style has led the resurgence of Coast Salish art. She draws creativity from the stories of her ancestors and continually innovates with non-traditional materials and techniques, thereby inspiring a new generation of artists. Susan is most proud to be an Officer of the Order of Canada, and has been presented with the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal for her contributions to Canada.

She has been recognized with an Indspire Achievement Award, a YWCA Woman of Distinction Award, a BC Creative Achievement Award and Lifetime Achievement Award, and a lifetime appointment to the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts, and was named to the Vancouver Sun’s 2010 “BC’s Top 100 Influential Women” list and the City of Vancouver’s 2012 “Remarkable Women” list.

Susan has honorary doctorates from the University of Victoria, Simon Fraser University, the University of British Columbia, and Emily Carr University of Art and Design.

In 2016, Susan became a member of the City of Vancouver’s Civic Merit Award, and in 2018 she was awarded the Audain Prize for Lifetime Achievement in the Arts, and named Ambassador of the Arts by the Metchosin International Summer School of the Arts.

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Shazia Hafiz Ramji

Port of Being

Invisible publishing

Shazia Hafiz Ramji was a finalist for the 2018 Alberta Magazine Awards, received the 2017 Robert Kroetsch Award for Innovative Poetry, and was a finalist for the 2016 National Magazine Awards.

Her writing has appeared in Quill & Quire, Canadian Literature, The Puritan, and Metatron’s ALPHA and OMEGA.

She lives in Vancouver where she works as an editor and teaches creative writing.
Susin Nielsen

No Fixed Address

Tundra Books
Susin got her start writing for the hit TV series Degrassi Junior High, and went on to write for over twenty Canadian shows.

She is the author of five critically-acclaimed and award-winning titles, including Optimists Die First, We Are All Made of Molecules, Word Nerd, and The Reluctant Journal of Henry K. Larsen (winner of the Governor General’s Literary Award). Rolling Stone magazine put The Reluctant Journal at #27 in their list of “Top 40 Best YA Novels.”

Nielsen has been called “The John Green of Canada” (and she once had a dream that he had been called “The Susin Nielsen of the United States”). Her books have been translated into many languages.

She lives in Vancouver, BC, with her family and two naughty cats.

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