The names of the finalists in the running for the seven awards to be handed out at this year's B.C. Book Prizes ceremony were revealed this morning. On the list is the Georgia Straight's own Travis Lupick, a nominee for the Roderick Haig-Brown Regional Prize in honour of his debut book Fighting for Space: How a Group of Drug Users Transformed One City's Struggle With Addiction.

The West Coast Book Prize Society, organizer of this 34th annual edition of the prizes, says the winners will be revealed at the Lieutenant Governor’s B.C. Book Prizes, to take place downtown at the Pinnacle Hotel Harbourfront on May 4. Go to the B.C. Book Prizes site for tickets and details.

Here are the nominees:

Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize, awarded to the author of the best work of fiction:
• David Chariandy, Brother (McClelland & Stewart)
• Andrea MacPherson, What We Once Believed (Caitlin Press)
• Zoey Leigh Peterson, Next Year, For Sure (Doubleday Canada)
• Eden Robinson, Son of a Trickster (Knopf Canada)
• Daniel Zomparelli, Everything Is Awful and You’re a Terrible Person (Arsenal Pulp Press)

Roderick Haig-Brown Regional Prize, recognizing the author(s) of the book that contributes most to the
enjoyment and understanding of British Columbia:
• Sarah de Leeuw, Where It Hurts (NeWest Press)
• Kotaro Hayashi, Fumio “Frank” Kanno, Henry Tanaka, and Jim Tanaka (editors), Changing Tides:
Vanishing Voices of Nikkei Fishermen and Their Families (Nikkei National Museum & Cultural Centre)
• Marianne Ignace and Ronald E. Ignace, Secwépemc People, Land, and Laws: Yerí7 re Stsq’ey's-kucw
(McGill-Queen’s University Press)
• Travis Lupick, Fighting for Space: How a Group of Drug Users Transformed One City's Struggle with
Addiction (Arsenal Pulp Press)
• K. Jane Watt, Surrey: A City of Stories (City of Surrey)

Hubert Evans Non-Fiction Prize, awarded to the author(s) of the best original nonfiction literary work:
• Carys Cragg, Dead Reckoning: How I Came to Meet the Man Who Murdered My Father (Arsenal Pulp
Press)
• Theresa Kishkan, Euclid’s Orchard & Other Essays (Mother Tongue Publishing)
• Arthur Manuel and Grand Chief Ronald Derrickson, The Reconciliation Manifesto: Recovering the Land,
Rebuilding the Economy (James Lorimer and Company Ltd., Publishers)
• Andrew Struthers, The Sacred Herb/The Devil’s Weed (New Star Books)
• Paul Watson, Ice Ghosts: The Epic Hunt for the Lost Franklin Expedition (McClelland & Stewart)

Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize, awarded to the author of the best work of poetry:
• Mercedes Eng, Prison Industrial Complex Explodes (Talonbooks)
• Rhonda Ganz, Frequent, small loads of laundry (Mother Tongue Publishing)
• Jónína Kirton, An Honest Woman (Talonbooks)
• Julie Paul, The Rules of the Kingdom (McGill-Queen’s University Press)
• Onjana Yawnghwe, Fragments, Desire (Oolichan Books)

Christie Harris Illustrated Children’s Literature Prize, presented to the best illustrated book written for children:
• Nicola Campbell, illustrated by Julie Flett, A Day With Yayah (Tradewind Books)
• Faith Erin Hicks, The Nameless City: The Stone Heart (First Second)
• Stephen Hume, illustrated by Jessica Bromley Bartram, Charles (Fitzhenry & Whiteside)
• Ian McAllister and Nicholas Read, Wolf Island (Orca Book Publishers)
• Bill Richardson, illustrated by Roxanna Bikadoroff, The Alphabet Thief (Groundwood Books)

Sheila A. Egoff Children’s Literature Prize, awarded to the best nonillustrated book written for children:
• Julie Burtinshaw, Saying Good-bye to London (Second Story Press)
• Norma Charles, Runner: Harry Jerome, World’s Fastest Man (Red Deer Press)
• Anne Fleming, The Goat (Groundwood Books)
• Kallie George, Heartwood Hotel Book 1: A True Home (HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.)
• G. S. Prendergast, Zero Repeat Forever (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers)

Bill Duthie Booksellers’ Choice Award, presented to the originating publisher and author(s) of the best book in
terms of public appeal, initiative, design, production, and content:
• Carleigh Baker, Bad Endings (Anvil Press)
• Pat Carney, On Island: Life Among the Coast Dwellers (TouchWood Editions)
• Anita Hadley and Michael L. Hadley (editors), Spindrift: A Canadian Book of the Sea (Douglas & McIntyre)
• Grant Lawrence, Dirty Windshields: The Best and the Worst of the Smugglers Tour Diaries (Douglas &
McIntyre)
• Roy Henry Vickers and Robert Budd, Hello Humpback! (Harbour Publishing)