Victoria’s Robin Stevenson was awarded the Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Literary Excellence on Sunday during the Vancouver gala for the 39th annual B.C. and Yukon Book Prizes.
Stevenson has written 30 fiction and non-fiction books for kids and teens, which have published in more than a dozen countries. She was recognized for having a substantial body of literary work, which has contributed significantly to B.C.’s literary community and industry.
The B.C. and Yukon Book Prize also fêted Robert Joseph, hereditary chief for Vancouver Island’s Gwawaenuk Tribe, who was given the Bill Duthie Booksellers’ Choice Award on Sunday.
Joseph, 84, won for Namwayut: We Are All One: A Pathway to Reconciliation, during a gala held in Vancouver. The book details, in part, Joseph’s experience as a residential school survivor and offers insight into the relationship between Canada and its Indigenous communities. He was invested as an officer of the Order of Canada in 2018.
The B.C. and Yukon Book Prizes are awarded annually to B.C. and Yukon authors, illustrators, and publishers. Several authors with ties to the Vancouver Island are were nominated this year, including Monique Gray Smith, Roy Henry Vickers, Julie Flett, Haley Healey, Kimiko Fraser, and Susan Juby.
