The finalists for the 2023 Banff Mountain Book Competition have been announced by Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival. Eight prizes celebrate mountain literature in all its forms.

The winners in each category will be announced October 19. These winners in turn are eligible for the Grand Prize, which will be announced on November 2 during the festival, which runs October 28–November 5.

Shortlisted titles related to climbing are also eligible for the Climbing Literature prize to be announced October 19.

Submissions were made from eight countries with 33 category finalists, one third of which are by Canadian authors or published by Canadian presses. The full shortlists can be found here.

The Canadian finalists are:

Mountain Literature (non-fiction) – The Jon Whyte Award

• The Boy and The Mountain by Torbjørn Ekelund (Greystone Books)
• Royal Robbins: The American Climber by David Chaundy-Smart (Mountaineers Books)

Mountain Fiction & Poetry

• Oldman’s River by Sid Marty (NeWest Press)
• We Measure the Earth with Our Bodies by Tsering Yangzom Lama (McClelland & Stewart/Penguin Random House Canada)

Environmental Literature

• Drawing Botany Home: A Rooted Life by Lyn Baldwin (Rocky Mountain Books)
• Fire Weather: The Making of a Beast by John Vaillant (Knopf Canada/Penguin Random House Canada)

Adventure Travel

• A Complex Coast: A Kayak Journey from Vancouver Island to Alaska by David Norwel (Heritage House)
• Instead: Navigating the Adventures of a Childfree Life by Maria Coffey (Rocky Mountain Books)

Mountain Image

• Tones of Grace: 100 Black and White Images from Planet Earth by Dave Brosha (Rocky Mountain Books)

Guidebooks

• Alpine Select: Climbs and Scrambles in Southwest British Columbia by Kevin McLane (High Col Press)
• Alpine Skills Summer (Third Edition) by UIAA (The Alpine Club of Canada, Rocky Mountain Section )
• Cook It Wild: Sensational Prep-Ahead Meals for Camping, Cabins, and the Great Outdoors by Chris Nuttall-Smith (Penguin Canada)