City of Vancouver Book Award

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 diversity, history, unique character, or the achievements of its residents.

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

What's happening2023 Vancouver Book Award winner

The award was presented at the Vancouver Public Library (Central branch) in the Alice MacKay Room on September 22.

Congratulations to this year’s Vancouver Book Award winner, Junie by Chelene Knight, published by Book*hug Press.  

The finalists were:

  • Cactus Gardens by Evelyn Lau. Published by Anvil Press. 
  • The Foghorn Echoes by Danny Ramadan. Published by Penguin Random House. 
  • Holden After and Before: Love Letter for a Son Lost to Overdose by Tara McGuire. Published by Arsenal Pulp Press. 
  • Jan Wade: Soul Power by Jan Wade, Deanna Bowen, Wayde Compton, Daina Augaitis, Siobhan McCracken Nixon. Published by Information Office, Vancouver Art Gallery.
  • Junie by Chelene Knight. Published by Book*hug Press 
  • PAWS: Mindy Makes Some Space by Michele Assarasakorn and Nathan Fairbairn. Published by Razorbill. 

Finalists were selected by the 2023 City of Vancouver Book Award jury, including writers Molly Cross-Blanchard and Dina Del Bucchia, and Community Engagement Librarian Allan Cho.

2023 finalist biographies

Previous Book Award winners

Previous winners of the City of Vancouver Book Award include Karen Duffek, Bill McLennan, and Jordan Wilson for Where the Power Is: Indigenous Perspectives on Northwest Coast Art (2022); Michelle Good for Five Little Indians (2021); Catherine B Clement for Chinatown Through a Wide Lens: The Hidden Photographs of Yucho Chow (2020); Robert Watt and Susan Point for People Among the People: The public art of Susan Point (2019); Chelene Knight for Dear Current Occupant (2018); Carleigh Baker for Bad Endings (2017); and Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun, Karen Duffek, and Tania Willard for Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun: Unceded Territories (2016).

Review more City of Vancouver Book Award winners and finalists from previous years

Contact Cultural Services

Mailing address
Cultural Services
453 West 12th Ave
Vancouver, BC V5Y 1V4

cultural.services@vancouver.ca

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