Manitoba author David A. Robertson among 2024 BC and Yukon Book Prizes finalists

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Darrel J. McLeod, Naomi Klein and David A. Robertson are among the authors who have been shortlisted for the 40th annual BC and Yukon Book Prizes.

The prizes celebrate books by writers in the province and territory on Canada’s west coast across eight different categories, from fiction to children’s literature and poetry. 

A Season in Chezgh'un by Darrel J. McLeod. An illustrated book cover with an Indigenous man standing looking off into the wilderness.

McLeod’s novel A Season in Chezgh’un has made the shortlist for the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize. A Season in Chezgh’un is a fictionalized year in the life of a Nehiyaw man and what he experiences working in a remote B.C. First Nation. James, a man from a small settlement in Northern Alberta has created a comfortable life for himself in a trendy neighbourhood in Vancouver.

He has all the things he once dreamed of — he travels, has great friends, a great career and a caring partner — but part of him is wary of assimilating into mainstream culture. 

McLeod is from Treaty 8 territory in Northern Alberta. Before his retirement, he was chief negotiator of land claims for the federal government and executive director of education and international affairs with the Assembly of First Nations. He is also the author of the memoirs Mamaskatch and Peyakow. Mamaskatch won the 2018 Governor General’s Literary Award for nonfiction and Peyakow was shortlisted for the Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction.

The book title written in white letters across the blurred face of a woman

Klein is shortlisted for the Hubert Evans Non-Fiction Prize for Doppelganger.

In Doppelganger, Klein explores the concept of Mirror World. This includes the presence of far-right movements and how they attempt to appeal to the working class, anti-vaxxers, and it explores implications of artificial intelligence in content curation and the additional identities that we create on social media.

Through referencing thinkers such as Sigmund Freud and bell hooks, Klein also connects to greater social themes to share how one can break free from the Mirror World. 

Klein is the author of international bestsellers including This Changes Everything, The Shock Doctrine, No Logo, No Is Not Enough, and On Fire, which have been published in more than 35 languages. She is an associate professor in the department of geography at the University of British Columbia and the founding co-director of UBC’s Centre of Climate Justice. 

LISTEN | Naomi Klein discusses writing Doppelganger: 

The Sunday Magazine27:44Naomi Klein on conspiracy culture and confronting our doppelgangers

Robertson made the list for the Christie Harris Illustrated Children’s Literature Prize for his picture book The Song that Called Them Home, illustrated by Maya McKibbin. Inspired by Indigenous folklore, The Song that Called Them Home is a story about two children who go on a trip with their grandfather.  

Illustrated book cover of the inside of a whirlpool with two people swimming. Blue text overlaid.

Robertson is a writer and graphic novelist based in Winnipeg. He has published books across a variety of genres, including the graphic novels Will I See? and Sugar Falls, the YA book Strangers, the memoir Black Water and the Governor General’s Literary Award-winning picture books When We Were Alone and On the Trapline, both illustrated by Cree-Métis artist Julie Flett.

McKibbin is two-spirited Ojibway, Yoeme and Irish filmmaker, illustrator and storyteller based in Vancouver. McKibbin previously illustrated the picture book Swift Fox All Along, which was written by Rebecca Thomas.

The winners in all eight categories will be announced on Sept. 28, 2024 at the BC and Yukon Book Prizes gala.

Past winners include authors Billy-Ray Belcourt, Ruth Ozeki, Jordan Abel, Suzanne Simard, Michael Prior, Ivan Coyote, Steven Price and Chantal Gibson. 

Find all the shortlists for the 2024 BC and Yukon Book Prizes below.

Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize: 

Hubert Evans Non-Fiction Prize: 

Roderick Haig-Brown Regional Prize:

  • Stewards of Splendour: A History of Wildlife and People in British Columbia by Jennifer Bonnell
  • The Best Loved Boat: The Princess Maquinna by Ian Kennedy
  • The Wild Horses of the Chilcotin: Their History and Future by Wayne McCrory
  • A Complex Coast: A Kayak Journey from Vancouver Island to Alaska by David Norwell
  • This Place Is Who We Are: Stories of Indigenous Leadership, Resilience, and Connection to Homelands by Katherine Palmer Gordon

Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize:

Jim Deva Prize for Writing That Provokes:

Christie Harris Illustrated Children’s Literature Prize:

Sheila A. Egoff Children’s Literature Prize:

Bill Duthie Booksellers’ Choice Award:

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