Today (April 8), the West Coast Book Prize Society revealed the shortlists in eight categories for the 37th annual B.C. and Yukon Book Prizes.

Among the finalists are several Vancouver-based authors, poets, writers, illustrators, and publishers, including Annabel Lyon, Aislinn Hunter, Charles Demers, Amber Dawn, Fred Wah, Eve Lazarus, and Seth Klein, to name a few.

Joel Bakan’s The New Corporation: How "Good" Corporations Are Bad for Democracy was adapted into a documentary feature film The New Corporation: The Unfortunately Necessary Sequel, which was released in November.

Next week on April 14, the Vancouver Writers Fest, the Vancouver Public Library, and the B.C. and Yukon Book Prizes will celebrate the finalists of the 2021 Jim Deva Prize for Writing That Provokes, which honours an author or illustrator of an original work of published writing that challenges or provokes ideas about what writing, art, or society can become.

This free event will feature the finalists for this specific award, now in its second year and named after the late LGBT-rights activist and owner of Little Sister's Book and Art Emporium, reading from their books.

The winners of the following eight categories will be announced at the B.C. and Yukon Book Prizes Gala on September 18.

Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize awarded to the author of the best work of literary fiction:

• Michelle Good, Five Little Indians (HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.)
• Aislinn Hunter, The Certainties (Knopf Canada/Penguin Random House Canada)
• Shaena Lambert, Petra (Random House Canada/Penguin Random House Canada)
• Annabel Lyon, Consent (Random House Canada/Penguin Random House Canada)
• Susan Sanford Blades, Fake It So Real (Nightwood Editions)

Hubert Evans Non-Fiction Prize awarded to the author of the best original non-fiction literary work:

• Billy-Ray Belcourt, A History of My Brief Body: A Memoir (Hamish Hamilton Canada/Penguin Random House Canada)
• Eva Holland, Nerve: A Personal Journey Through the Science of Fear (Allen Lane Canada/Penguin Random House Canada)
• Liz Levine, Nobody Talks About Anything But the End: A Memoir (Simon & Schuster Canada)
• Benjamin Perrin, Overdose: Heartbreak and Hope in Canada's Opioid Crisis (Viking Canada/Penguin Random House Canada)
• Seth Klein, A Good War: Mobilizing Canada for the Climate Emergency (ECW Press)

Roderick Haig-Brown Regional Prize to recognize the author(s) of the book that contributes most to the enjoyment and understanding of British Columbia and Yukon:

• Grant Buday, Orphans of Empire: A Novel (Brindle & Glass/TouchWood Editions)
• Claudia Cornwall, British Columbia in Flames (Harbour Publishing)
• Kwanlin Dün First Nation, Kwanlin Dün: Dǎ Kwǎndur Gh.y Gh.kwad.ndur—Our Story in Our Words (Figure 1 Publishing)
• David McIlwraith (Editor), Wanda Joy Hoe (Translator), The Diary of Dukesang Wong: A Voice from Gold Mountain (Talonbooks)
• Briony Penn with Cecil Paul, Following the Good River: The Life and Times of Wa'xaid (Rocky Mountain Books)

Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize awarded to the author of the best work of poetry:

• Joseph Dandurand, The East Side of It All (Nightwood Editions)
• Junie Désil, eat salt | gaze at the ocean (Talonbooks)
• Valerie Mason-John, I Am Still Your Negro: An Homage to James Baldwin (University of Alberta Press)
• Michael Prior, Burning Province (McClelland & Stewart)
• Fred Wah, Music at the Heart of Thinking: Improvisations 1-170 (Talonbooks)

Jim Deva Prize for Writing That Provokes presented to a book that challenges or provokes ideas and forces that shape what writing, art, and society can become.

• Joel Bakan, The New Corporation: How "Good" Corporations Are Bad for Democracy (Allen Lane Canada/Penguin Canada)
• Billy-Ray Belcourt, A History of My Brief Body (Hamish Hamilton Canada/Penguin Random House Canada)
• Amber Dawn, My Art Is Killing Me and Other Poems (Arsenal Pulp Press)
• Michelle Good, Five Little Indians (HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.)
• Benjamin Perrin, Overdose: Heartbreak and Hope in Canada's Opioid Crisis (Viking Canada/Penguin Random House Canada)

Christie Harris Illustrated Children’s Literature Prize presented to the best illustrated book written for children:

• Linda Bailey, Joy Ang (Illustrator), Princesses Versus Dinosaurs (Tundra Books/Penguin Random House Canada)
• Danny Ramadan, Anna Bron (Illustrator), Salma the Syrian Chef (Annick Press)
• Jordan Scott, Sydney Smith (Illustrator), I Talk Like A River (Neal Porter Books/Penguin Random House Canada)
• Bonnie Sherr Klein, Élisabeth Eudes-Pascal (Illustrator), Beep Beep Bubbie (Tradewind Books)
• Rina Singh, Ellen Rooney (Illustrator), Grandmother School (Orca Book Publishers)

Sheila A. Egoff Children’s Literature Prize awarded to the best non-illustrated book written for children:

• Gail Anderson-Dargatz, The Ride Home (Orca Book Publishers)
• Dan Bar-el, Kelly Pousette (Illustrator), Just Beyond the Very, Very Far North (Atheneum Books for Young Readers/Simon & Schuster Canada)
• Sara Cassidy, Charlene Chua (Illustrator), Genius Jolene (Orca Book Publishers)
• Tanya Lloyd Kyi, Me and Banksy (Puffin Books/Penguin Random House Canada)
• Melanie Siebert, Belle Wuthrich (Illustrator), Heads Up: Changing Minds on Mental Health (Orca Book Publishers)

Bill Duthie Booksellers’ Choice Award presented to the originating publisher and author of the best book for public appeal, initiative, design, production, and content:

• Robert Amos, The E. J. Hughes Book of Boats (TouchWood Editions)
• Jean Barman, On the Cusp of Contact: Gender, Space and Race in the Colonization of British Columbia (Harbour Publishing)
• Charles Demers, Primary Obsessions (Douglas & McIntyre)
• Eve Lazarus, Vancouver Exposed: Searching for the City's Hidden History (Arsenal Pulp Press)
• Roy Henry Vickers and Robert Budd, Raven Squawk, Orca Squeak (Harbour Publishing)