- Renovating Heaven by Andreas Schroeder
Hilarious, bizarre and heart-breaking by turns, these three novellas of
Mennonite life in Canada from the 1950s to the 1970s fill in the gap between
Rudy Wiebe's Of This Earth (a generation older) and
Miriam Toews' A Complicted Kindness (a generation
younger)...more
- The Jesus Sayings by Rex Weyler
Jesus never said he was the son of God, he made no mention of the devil, and he
didn't instruct his followers to wait for their reward in the eternal afterlife.
Today, many people are shocked by these sober conclusions of modern biblical
scholarship. So what did Jesus teach? .....In
The Jesus Sayings, writer and religion commentator Rex Weyler provides a
fresh and provocative view of Jesus' message and his mission. Weyler uses the
latest scholarship applied to the complete range of sources to bring this
astounding and important message to the general reader in a way that is
entertaining, inspiring, and enlightening. more
more from the BC Book Prizes nominees.....
The Cellist of Sarajevo
by Steven Galloway
Publisher: Knopf Canada
Set during the siege of Sarajevo, the Cellist of Sarajevo tells the story of three of the city’s inhabitants: a female sniper who calls herself Arrow; Kenan, a dutiful father; and Dragan, a baker on his way to work. Connecting them is the cellist, who plays each afternoon in a crater left by a mortar shell in front of his building where twenty-two people were killed while waiting to buy bread. The cellist vows to sit in the hollow where the mortar fell and play Albinoni’s Adagio once a day for each of the twenty-two victims. The Adagio had been re-created from a fragment after the only extant score was firebombed in the Dresden Music Library, but the fact that it had been rebuilt by a different composer into something new and worthwhile gives the cellist hope. Steven Galloway is the author of Finnie Walsh and Ascension. He teaches creative writing at UBC and SFU, and lives with his family in New Westminster, BC. More
The Man Game
by Lee Henderson
Publisher: Penguin Group (Canada)
On a recent Vancouver Sunday afternoon, a young man stumbles upon a secret sport invented more than a century before, at the birth of his city. In 1886, out of the smouldering ashes of the great fire that destroyed much of the city, a former vaudeville performer and two lumberjacks invent a new sport that will change the course of the fledgling city’s history. Thus begins The Man Game, Lee Henderson’s epic tale of loved requited and not, that crosses the contemporary and historical in an extravagant, anarchistic retelling of the early days of a pioneer town on the edge of the known world. Lee Henderson is the author of the award-winning short story collection The Broken Record Technique and is a contributing editor to the arts magazines Border Crossings and Contemporary. He lives in Vancouver. More
Red Dog, Red Dog
by Patrick Lane
Publisher: McClelland & Stewart Ltd.
An epic novel of unrequited dreams and forestalled lives, Red Dog, Red Dog is set in the mid-1950s, in a small town in the interior of B.C. in the unnamed Okanagan Valley. The novel focuses on the Stark family, centering on brothers Eddy and Tom, who are bound together by family loyalty and inarticulate love. Filled with moments of harrowing violence and breathtaking description, of shattering truths and deep humanity, Red Dog, Red Dog is about the legacies of the past and the possibilities of forgiveness and redemption. Patrick Lane is the author of 21 books of poetry, and has received many awards for his writing, including the Governor General’s Award for Poetry (1979), the Canadian Authors Association Award for Poetry (1988), and two National Magazine Awards. Lane lives near Victoria with poet Lorna Crozier. More
Renovating Heaven
by Andreas Schroeder
Publisher: Oolichan Books
Hilarious, bizarre and heart-breaking by turns, these three novellas of Mennonite life in Canada from the 1950s to the 1970s fill in the gap between Rudy Wiebe’s Of This Earth (a generation older) and Miriam Toews’ A Complicted Kindness (a generation younger). Leaving Germany with little more than their 16th century Anabaptist faith and lifestyle to guide them, Andreas Schroeder’s family settles on a small Fraser Valley farm in British Columbia and proceeds to try making sense of the perplexing mores and values of “The English” who surround them. Andreas Schroeder is the author of twenty books of poetry, fiction, nonfiction, translations, journalism and literary criticism. His books have won or been shortlisted for many awards including the Governor General’s Award, the Stephen Leacock Award, the Arthur Ellis Award for Best Non-Fiction and the Red Maple Award. He lives in Roberts Creek on BC’s Sunshine Coast with his wife, Sharon Oddie Brown. More
That Tune Clutches My Heart
by Paul Headrick
Publisher: Gaspereau Press
On the eve of her first day of senior high, May Sutherland’s mother gives her a diary in which to record her experiences. It’s 1948 and the entire student body at Magee High in Vancouver is divided according to their preference for Bing Crosby or Frank Sinatra. After losing her two best friends overnight, May struggles between her disdain for the debate and her loneliness as one of only a handful of neutrals. In the often hilariously rigid turns of phrase with which May records her misunderstandings and attempts at maturity, Headrick captures the inner life of a good girl coming of age. Paul Headrick lives in Vancouver with his partner, novelist Heather Burt. He teaches literature and creative writing at Langara College and his work has been published in numerous journals, including The Malahat Review and The Antigonish Review. More
Hubert Evans Non-Fiction Prize
Supported by Abebooks
Judges: Robert Brighurst, Barbara Jo May, and Jan Whitford
Dry Spring: The Coming Water Crisis of North America
by Chris Wood
Publisher: Raincoast Books
The globe is running out of water. Lakes, aquifers and rivers disappear, but we consume more than ever. Many fast-growing places—the U.S. Southwest, B.C.’s Okanagan, the Great Lakes area—face deadly scarcity. Yet even as the world dries, some parts are getting more violently stormy. Dry Spring tells dramatic stories of floods and droughts that will worsen over the next 25 years. Chris Wood shows that Canada overall will get more water—and America less. He calls provocatively upon Canada to find solutions and opportunities jointly with the U.S. And he describes inspiring choices by which we can save this precious resource for our future. Journalist and former Maclean’s editor Chris Wood has written in the Globe and Mail, the Financial Post, the Walrus, the Tyee and has won two Gold National Magazine Awards for his work. He is the co-author of Blockbusters and Trade Wars, shortlisted for the Donner Prize. More
Going Home: Essays
by Tim Lilburn
Publisher: House of Anansi Press
Tim Lilburn has long been a deep thinker on issues of ecology and writing, and on how the two fit together philosophically, morally, and ethically. In Going Home, Lilburn addresses how we relate (often uneasily) to our physical landscape in Canada and the United States. Surprising and enlightening, the collection finishes with two unforgettable personal essays, where Lilburn writes about his effort to enact desire in the place where his ancestors are buried, the flatlands and coulees of southern Saskatchewan. Masterful and timely, Going Home is a wake-up call for the whole of North America to the fact that our “home” is endangered because of the way we live in it. Tim Lilburn is a poet and essayist, and the author of six books of poems, including Kill-site, To the River, Moosewood Sandhills, and most recently, Orphic Politics. He has been nominated for the Governor General’s Literary Award twice. Lilburn lives in Victoria, BC, where he teaches at the University of Victoria. More
In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction
by Gabor Mate, MD
Publisher: Knopf Canada
In this timely and profoundly original new book, bestselling writer and physician Gabor Maté looks at the epidemic of addictions in our society, tells us why we are so prone to them and what is needed to liberate ourselves from their hold on our emotions and behaviours. He proposes a compassionate approach to helping drug addicts and, for the many behaviour addicts among us, to addressing the void addiction is meant to fill. For over seven years Gabor Maté has been the staff physician at the Portland Hotel, a residence and harm reduction facility in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. More
The Jesus Sayings
by Rex Weyler
Publisher: House of Anansi Press
Jesus never said he was the son of God, he made no mention of the devil, and he didn’t instruct his followers to wait for their reward in the eternal afterlife. Today, many people are shocked by these sober conclusions of modern biblical scholarship. So what did Jesus teach? In The Jesus Sayings, writer and religion commentator Rex Weyler provides a fresh and provocative view of Jesus’ message and his mission. Weyler uses the latest scholarship applied to the complete range of sources to bring this astounding and important message to the general reader in a way that is entertaining, inspiring, and enlightening. Rex Weyler is the critically acclaimed author of Blood of the Land, which was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, and Greenpeace: The Inside Story, which was a finalist for the Shaughnessy Cohen Award for Political Non-fiction and the Hubert Evans Non-Fiction Prize. He lives in Vancouver. More
What is America? A Short History of the New World Order
by Ronald Wright
Publisher: Knopf Canada
Brimming with insight into history and human behaviour, and written in Ronald Wright’s captivating style, What Is America? shows how this came to pass; how the United States, which regards itself as the most modern country on earth, is also deeply archaic, a stronghold not only of religious fundamentalism but of “modern” beliefs in limitless progress and a universal mission that have fallen under suspicion elsewhere in the west, a rethinking driven by two World Wars and the reckless looting of our planet. Ronald Wright is the internationally acclaimed author of A Scientific Romance, winner of Britain’s David Higham Prize for Fiction. His other major bestsellers include Time Among the Maya and Stolen Continents, and an acclaimed collection of travel pieces, Home and Away. He lives on Salt Spring Island, BC. More
