Do all the most interesting nonfiction writers live in B.C.? Or does it just seem that way? This is Quill & Quire's listing of nominees for the Hubert Evans Non-fiction Prize (best nonfiction book by a BC writer).
- Luanne Armstrong, The Light through the Trees: Reflections on Land and Farming (Caitlin Press)
- George Bowering, Pinboy (Cormorant Books)
- Sandra Djwa, Journey with No Maps: A Life of P.K. Page (McGill-Queen’s University Press)
- Geoff Meggs and Rod Mickleburgh, The Art of the Impossible: Dave Barrett and the NDP in Power, 1972–1975 (Harbour)
- Carol Shaben, Into the Abyss: How a Deadly Plane Crash Changed the Lives of a Pilot, a Politician, a Criminal and a Cop (Random House Canada).
Historians Derek Hayes, Daniel Francis, Ali Kazimi and others are nominated in other BC Book Prize categories. (Just to keep us on our toes, BC also has a big dollars British Columbia Prize for Nonfiction that is open to non British Columbians, but that's a separate thing. Most recently won by UT historian Modris Eksteins for Solar Dance)
Q&Q also has news of a new prize for Outstanding Scholarly Book on British Columbia, named in honour of former UBC Librarian Basil Stuart-Stubbs. First nominees are Sandra Djwa's Journey With No Maps: A Life of P.K. Page (McGill-Queen's); Derek Hayes' British Columbia: a New Historical Atlas (Douglas & McIntyre); and Jim McDowell's Father August Brabant: Saviour or Scourge (Ronsdale).
