Clockwise from top left: Maria Reva, Ruby Smith Díaz, Jen Sookfong Lee, David A. Robertson, Lorna Goodison, Bob Joseph, Iona Whishaw, and Léa Taranto are among the writers nominated for the B.C. and Yukon Book Prizes.

Finalists have been named for the 2026 B.C. and Yukon Book Prizes.

The annual awards, now in their 42nd year, are administered by the West Coast Book Prize Society and celebrate the achievements of B.C. and Yukon writers, illustrators, and publishers. The winners in eight categories will be announced at a gala in Vancouver on Sept. 19, alongside the winners of the Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Literary Excellence and the Borealis Prize: The Commissioner of Yukon Award for Literary Contribution.

The finalists are:

Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize

• Rufous and Calliope by Sarah Louise Butler (Douglas & McIntyre)
• Tunnel Island: Stories by Bill Gaston (Thistledown Press)
• Contemplation of a Crime by Susan Juby (HarperCollins Publishers)
• Endling by Maria Reva (Knopf Canada/Penguin Random House Canada)
• The Last Exile by Sam Wiebe (Harbour Publishing)

Hubert Evans Non-Fiction Prize

• Meltdown: The Making and Breaking of a Field Scientist by Sarah Boon (University of Alberta Press)
• Reconciling: A Lifelong Struggle to Belong by Larry Grant with Scott Steedman (ECW Press)
• Crackdown: Surviving and Resisting the War on Drugs by Garth Mullins (Doubleday Canada/Penguin Random House Canada)
• We Survived the Night: An Indigenous Reckoning by Julian Brave Noisecat (Random House Canada)
• No Judgement: And Other Busking Stories by Phillip Seagram (Caitlin Press)

Roderick Haig-Brown Regional Prize

• Challenging Exile: Japanese Canadians and the Wartime Constitution by Eric M. Adams and Jordan Stanger-Ross (UBC Press)
• Searching for Serafim: The Life and Legacy of Serafim “Joe” Fortes by Ruby Smith Díaz (Arsenal Pulp Press)
• Reconciling: A Lifelong Struggle to Belong by Larry Grant with Scott Steedman (ECW Press)
• Once upon This Land: Archaeology in British Columbia and the Stories It Tells by Robert J. Muckle (Purich Books/UBC Press)
• Enemy Alien: Tamio Wakayama by Paul Wong and Tamio Wakayama (Figure 1 Publishing)

Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize

• Buzzkill Clamshell by Amber Dawn (Arsenal Pulp Press)
• The Inferno by Lorna Goodison (Véhicule Press)
• Devotional Forensics by Joseph Kidney (icehouse poetry/Gooselane Editions)
• The Book of Z by Rahat Kurd (Talonbooks)
• Boxing in the Bone Orchard by Bruce McRae (Frontenac House Poetry)

Jim Deva Prize for Writing that Provokes

• Searching for Serafim: The Life and Legacy of Serafim “Joe” Fortes by Ruby Smith Díaz (Arsenal Pulp Press)
• This Book Is a Knife: Radical Working-Class Strategies in the Age of Climate Change by L.E. Fox (Arsenal Pulp
  Press)
• Of Floating Isles: On Growing Pains and Video Games by Kawika Guillermo (Arsenal Pulp Press)
• The Cree Word for Love: Sâkihitowin by Tracey Lindberg and George Littlechild , ill. (Harper Avenue/HarperCollins Canada)
• The Hunger We Pass Down by Jen Sookfong Lee (McClelland & Stewart/Penguin Random House Canada)

Christie Harris Illustrated Children’s Literature Prize

• Celebrating Potlatches by Samantha Beynon and Carla Joseph, ill. (Strong Nations Publishing)
• A Stronger Home by Katrina Chen and Elaine Su and Delphie Côté-Lacroix, ill. (Orca Book Publishers)
• Oasis by GuoJing (Godwin Books/Macmillan Publishers)
• No Huddles for Heloise by Deborah Kerbel and Udayana Lugo, ill. (Orca Book Publishers)
• Little Shoes by David A. Robertson and Maya McKibbin, ill. (Tundra Books/Penguin Random House Canada)

Sheila A. Egoff Children’s Literature Prize

• Messy Perfect by Tanya Boteju (Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins)
• Saving Wolfgang by Gregor Craigie (Orca Book Publishers)
• Among Ghosts by Rachel Hartman (Penguin Teen Canada)
• I Won’t Feel This Way Forever by Kim Spencer (Orca Book Publishers)
• A Drop in the Ocean by Léa Taranto (Arsenal Pulp Press)

Bill Duthie Booksellers’ Choice Award

• The Teachings of Mutton: A Coast Salish Woolly Dog by Liz Hammond-Kaarremaa with Alison Ariss, Andrea Fritz, Chepximiya Siyam Chief Dr. Janice George, Danielle Morsette, Debra Qwasen Sparrow, Eliot White-Hill Kwulasultun, Jared Qwustenuxun Williams, Kerrie Charnley, Michael Pavel, sa amitća Susan Pavel, Senaqwila Wyss, Snumithia’ Violet Elliott, Tuwuxwul’t-hw Tyrone Elliott, and Xweliqwiya Rena Point Bolton (Harbour Publishing)
• 7IDANsuu James Hart: A Monumental Practice by 7IDANsuu James Hart and Curtis Collins (Figure 1 Publishing)
• 21 Things You Need to Know About Indigenous Self-Government: A Conversation about Dismantling the Indian Act by Bob Joseph (Page Two Books)
• Decolonization and Me: Conversations about Healing a Nation and Ourselves by Phyllis Webstad and Kristy McLeod (Medicine Wheel Publishing)
• A Season for Spies by Iona Whishaw (TouchWood Editions/Heritage House)