Yasuko Thanh
A book about the legendary Canadian TV series The Beachcombers, and a book of historical maps – including military, mining, and real estate maps and even a map of murders – are each up for two BC Book Prizes. The nominations were announced on Thursday.
British Columbia: A New Historical Atlas by Derek Hayes, and Bruno and the Beach: The Beachcombers at 40 by series co-creator Marc Strange - who died last year - and actor Jackson Davies (who played RCMP officer John Constable) are both up for the Bill Duthie Booksellers' Choice Award, and the Roderick Haig-Brown Regional Prize, recognizing the book that contributes most to the enjoyment and understanding of British Columbia.
Also nominated for the Regional Prize are Aaron Chapman for Liquor, Lust and the Law: The Story of Vancouver's Legendary Penthouse Nightclub, Ali Kazimi's Undesirables: White Canada and the Komagata Maru – An Illustrated History; and Standing Up with Ga'axsta'las: Jane Constance Cook and the Politics of Memory, Church, and Custom by Leslie A. Robertson and the Kwagu'l Gixsam Clan.
Rounding out the Booksellers' Choice Award nominees are Shelley Fralic for Making Headlines: 100 Years of the Vancouver Sun, Daniel Francis for Trucking in British Columbia: An Illustrated History, and Harold Kalman and Robin Ward for Exploring Vancouver: The Architectural Guide.
Among the nominees for the Hubert Evans Non-Fiction Prize for non-fiction literary work are veteran Globe and Mail reporter Rod Mickleburgh and Vancouver City Councillor Geoff Meggs for their collaboration The Art of the Impossible: Dave Barrett and the NDP in Power, 1972-1975. They're up against prolific author George Bowering, for his coming-of-age memoir Pinboy; Luanne Armstrong for The Light through the Trees: Reflections on Land and Farming; Sandra Djwa's biography Journey with No Maps: A Life of P.K. Page; and Carol Shaben for Into the Abyss: How a Deadly Plane Crash Changed the Lives of a Pilot, a Politician, a Criminal and a Cop.
On the fiction side, nominees for the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize are C.P. Boyko's Psychology and Other Stories; Anne Fleming's Gay Dwarves of America; Bill Gaston's The World; Anakana Schofield's Malarky; and Floating Like the Dead by Yasuko Thanh.
Up for the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize are Colin Browne for The Properties; Sarah de Leeuw for Geographies of a Lover; Roger Farr for IKMQ; Vancouver poet laureate Evelyn Lau for A Grain of Rice; and Patricia Young for Night-Eater.
In the children's categories, nominees for best illustrated children's book are Hey Canada! written by Vivien Bowers and illustrated by Milan Pavlovic; Rainbow Shoes by Tiffany Stone, illustrated by Stefan Czernecki; Gift Days by Kari-Lynn Winters, illustrated by Stephen Taylor; What's Up, Bear?: A Book About Opposites by Frieda Wishinsky, illustrated by Sean L. Moore; and Maggie's Chopsticks by Alan Woo, illustrated by Isabelle Malenfant.
And up for best non-illustrated book for children are Caroline Adderson's Middle of Nowhere, Rachel Hartman's Seraphina; John Lekich's The Prisoner of Snowflake Falls; Victoria Miles's Mimi Power and the I-Don't-Know-What and Susin Nielsen's The Reluctant Journal of Henry K. Larsen.
Winners will be announced on May 4.