2022 WINNERS
At the 19th annual Victoria Book Prize Gala, Esi Edugyan was awarded the City of Victoria Butler Book Prize for Out of the Sun: On Race and Storytelling (House of Anansi Press). Wendy Proverbs won the City of Victoria Children’s Book Prize for Aggie & Mudgy: The Journey of Two Kaska Dena Children (Heritage House Publishing).
City of Victoria Children’s Book Prize
Wendy Proverbs
Aggie & Mudgy: The Journey of Two Kaska Dena Children
Heritage House Publishing
Juror Citation
Themes of family, love and courage weave through the tale of Aggie and Mudgy. Using traditional storytelling in her gentle, loving way, Nan teaches her granddaughter Maddy the truth about their past with the heartbreaking story of two sisters from long ago. Over several days, Nan recounts the journey of the young girls, who were forced to travel 1600 kilometres to residential school where they remained far from their family for over ten years. Author Wendy Proverbs has created a triumph of a book that honours her family’s history, all the while weaving a magical tale with memorable characters.
Wendy Proverbs is an emerging Indigenous author of Kaska Dena descent. She holds a BA and MA in anthropology from the University of Victoria. Like thousands of Indigenous people across Canada, as an infant she was caught in the sweeping scoop of Indigenous children taken from their birth families and was only reunited with biological family members as a young adult. She has acted as a community liaison with Indigenous communities and strives to help younger generations, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous, learn more about their past.
Wendy Proverbs’ debut novel, Aggie and Mudgy: The Journey of Two Kaska Dena Children, is based on the true story of her biological mother and aunt. Aggie and Mudgy won the 2022 Jeanne Clarke Regional History Book Award and has been shortlisted for the 2023 Rocky Mountain Book Award and 2022/2023 First Nations Communities Read Award.
City of Victoria Butler Book Prize
Esi Edugyan
Out of the Sun: On Race and Storytelling
House of Anansi Press
Juror Citation
Esi Edugyan’s Out of the Sun: On Race and Storytelling is a complex and wide-ranging book that explores points in art, literature, history and contemporary events where peoples of African descent have been erased; their narratives re-told, distorted, ignored–or even fabricated. A six-part Massey Lecture series, each essay considers a distinct location, piece or art or historical narrative to weave personal reflection and cultural analysis that reveals “the ways we have constructed and continue to construct race”.
Esi Edugyan is a graduate of Johns Hopkins University and the University of Victoria, and was raised in Calgary, Alberta. She is the award-winning and internationally bestselling author of Washington Black, which was a finalist for the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize and the Man Booker Award and won the Scotiabank Giller Prize; Half-Blood Blues, which was a finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Award and the Man Booker Prize and won the Scotiabank Giller Prize; and The Second Life of Samuel Tyne. She is also the author of Dreaming of Elsewhere, which is part of the Kreisel Memorial Lecture Series. She lives in Victoria, British Columbia.
Past Winners – City of Victoria Children’s Book Prize
2022 City of Victoria Children’s Book Prize
Esi Edugyan Out of the Sun: On Race and Storytelling
2021 City of Victoria Children’s Book Prize
Leslie Gentile Elvis, Me and the Lemonade Stand
2020 City of Victoria Children’s Book Prize
Mark Lieren-Young Orcas Everywhere; The Mystery and History of Killer Whales
2019 Victoria Children’s Book Prize
Aidan Cassie Sterling, Best Dog Ever
2018 Bolen Books Children’s Book Prize Winner
Monique Gray Smith Speaking Our Truth: A Journey of Reconciliation
2017 Bolen Books Children’s Book Prize Winner
Margriet Ruurs Stepping Stones: A Refugee Family’s Journey
2016 Bolen Books Children’s Book Prize Winner
Dawn Green In the Swish
2015 Bolen Books Children’s Book Prize Winner
Chris Tougas Dojo Daycare
2014 Bolen Books Children’s Book Prize Winner
Daniel Loxton with Jim W.W. Smith Pterosaur Trouble
2013 Bolen Books Children’s Book Prize Winner
Polly Horvath One Year in Coal Harbour
2012 Bolen Books Children’s Book Prize Winner
Caitlyn Vernon Nowhere Else on Earth: Standing Tall for the Great Bear Rainforest
2011 Bolen Books Children’s Book Prize Winner
Kristi Bridgeman (Illustrator) Uirapurú
2010 Bolen Books Children’s Book Prize Winner
Sylvia Olsen Counting on Hope
2009 Bolen Books Children’s Book Prize Winner
Penny Draper Graveyard of the Sea
2008 Bolen Books Children’s Book Prize Winner
Chris Tougas Mechanimals
Past Winners – City of Victoria Butler Book Prize
2022 City of Victoria Butler Book Prize Winner
Wendy Proverbs Aggie & Mudgy: The Journey of Two Kaska Dena Children
2021 City of Victoria Butler Book Prize Winner
Brionny Penn with Cecil Paul Following the Good River: The Life and Times of Wa’xaid
2020 City of Victoria Butler Book Prize Winner
Lorna Crozier The House the Spirit Builds
2019 City of Victoria Butler Book Prize Winner
Kathy Page Dear Evelyn
2018 City of Victoria Butler Book Prize Winner
Bill Gaston A Mariner’s Guide to Self-Sabotage
2017 City of Victoria Butler Book Prize Winner
Yasuko Thanh Mysterious Fragrance of the Yellow Mountains
2016 City of Victoria Butler Book Prize Winner
Pauline Holdstock The Hunter and the Wild Girl
2015 City of Victoria Butler Book Prize Winner
Julie Paul The Pull of the Moon
2014 City of Victoria Butler Book Prize Winner
M.A.C. Farrant The World Afloat
2013 City of Victoria Butler Book Prize Winner
Stephen Reid A Crowbar in the Buddhist Garden
2012 City of Victoria Butler Book Prize Winner
Madeline Sonik Afflictions & Departures
2011 City of Victoria Butler Book Prize Winner
Jack Hodgins The Master of Happy Endings
2010 City of Victoria Butler Book Prize Winner
Frances Backhouse Children of the Klondike
2009 City of Victoria Butler Book Prize Winner
Patrick Lane Red Dog Red Dog
2008 City of Victoria Butler Book Prize Winner
Arlene Paré Paper Trail
2007 City of Victoria Butler Book Prize Winner
Bill Gaston Gargoyles
2006 City of Victoria Butler Book Prize Winner
Mark Zuehlke Holding Juno
2005 City of Victoria Butler Book Prize Winner
Terence Young After Goodlake’s
2004 City of Victoria Butler Book Prize Winner
Kevin Patterson Country of Cold