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.