Formerly imprisoned Cairo bureau chief of Al Jazeera English Mohamed Fahmy

The finalists for this year’s B.C. Book Prizes, recognizing the best titles published the year prior by the province’s authors, have been announced:

Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize

• Joan Haggerty, The Dancehall Years (Mother Tongue Publishing)
• Anosh Irani, The Parcel (Knopf Canada)
• Jen Sookfong Lee, The Conjoined (ECW Press)
• Ashley Little, Niagara Motel (Arsenal Pulp Press)
• Jennifer Manuel, The Heaviness of Things That Float (Douglas & McIntyre)

Hubert Evans Non-Fiction Prize

• Carmen Aguirre, Mexican Hooker #1: And My Other Roles Since the Revolution (Random House Canada)
• Deborah Campbell, A Disappearance in Damascus: A Story of Friendship and Survival in the Shadow of War (Knopf Canada)
• Mohamed Fahmy with Carol Shaben, The Marriott Cell: An Epic Journey from Cairo’s Scorpion Prison to Freedom (Random House)
• Joy Kogawa, Gently to Nagasaki (Caitlin Press)
• Mark Leiren-Young, The Killer Whale Who Changed the World (Greystone Books)

Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize

• Adèle Barclay, If I Were in a Cage I’d Reach Out For You (Nightwood Editions)
• Juliane Okot Bitek, 100 Days (University of Alberta Press)
• Anne Fleming, poemw (Pedlar Press)
• Rob Taylor, The News (Gaspereau Press)
• Richard Therrien, Sleeping in Tall Grass (University of Alberta Press)

Roderick Haig-Brown Regional Prize

• Anthony Kenyon, The Recorded History of the Liard Basin 1790-1910: Where British Columbia joins the Yukon and N.W.T. Fort Nelson News (Fort Nelson News)
• Michael Layland, A Perfect Eden: Encounters by Early Explorers of Vancouver Island (TouchWood Editions)
• David Pitt-Brooke, Crossing Home Ground: A Grassland Odyssey Through Southern Interior British Columbia (Harbour Publishing)
• Christopher Pollon and Ben Nelms (photog.), The Peace in Peril: The Real Cost of the Site C Dam (Harbour)
• Neil J. Sterritt, Mapping My Way Home: A Gitxsan History (Creekstone Press)

Sheila A. Egoff Children’s Literature Prize

• Kathleen Cherry, Everyday Hero (Orca Book Publishers)
• Iain Lawrence, The Skeleton Key (Tundra Books)
• R.K. McLay, The Rahtrum Chronicles: The Dream (Fifth House Publishers)
• Kit Pearson, A Day of Signs and Wonders (HarperCollins)
• Robin Stevenson, Pride: Celebrating Diversity & Community (Orca)

Christie Harris Illustrated Children’s Literature Prize

• Julie Morstad, Today (Simply Read Books)
• Margriet Ruurs, Stepping Stones: A Refugee Family’s Journey (Orca)
• Monique Gray Smith and Julie Flett (ill.), My Heart Fills with Happiness (Orca)
• Nikki Tate, Deep Roots: How Trees Sustain Our Planet (Orca)
• Roy Henry Vickers and Robert Budd, Peace Dancer (Harbour)

Bill Duthie Booksellers’ Choice Award

• Aaron Chapman, The Last Gang in Town: The Epic Story of the Vancouver Police vs. the Clark Park Gang (Arsenal Pulp)
• Wade Davis, Wade Davis: Photographs (D&M)
• Michael Layland, A Perfect Eden: Encounters by Early Explorers of Vancouver Island (TouchWood)
• Roy Henry Vickers and Robert Budd, Peace Dancer (Harbour)
• Richard Wagamese, Embers: One Ojibway’s Meditations (D&M)

The winners will be revealed at a gala hosted by the Lieutenant Governor at Vancouver’s Pinnacle Harbourfront Hotel on April 29.