BooksThere are eight different categories, recognizing the work of British Columbia and Yukon writers, illustrators and publishers, from fiction to children’s literature and poetry. The winner of each prize will receive $3,000.The annual awards recognize the achievements of British Columbia and Yukon-based writers and artistsCBC Books · CBC Books · Posted: Sep 23, 2025 8:33 AM EDT | Last Updated: 6 hours agoFrom left: Sarah Leavitt, Minelle Mahtani and Li Charmaine Anne are among the winners of the 2025 BC and Yukon Book Prizes. (Jackie Dives, Kyrani Kanavaros, Edward Chang)Sarah Leavitt, Minelle Mahtani and Li Charmaine Anne are among the winners of the 2025 BC and Yukon Book Prizes. The annual awards recognize the work of British Columbia and Yukon writers and artists across eight different categories, from fiction to children’s literature and poetry. The winner of each prize will receive $3,000. Leavitt’s graphic memoir Something, Not Nothing won the Jim Deva Prize for Writing that Provokes. (Arsenal Pulp Press)Following the medically assisted death of her partner of 22 years, cartoonist Leavitt began small sketches that quickly became something new and unexpected to her. In Something, Not Nothing the abstract images mixed with poetic text, layers of watercolour, ink and coloured pencil combine to tell a story of love, grief, peace and new beginnings. Sarah Leavitt illustrates the tender and complex grief of her partner’s assisted death Leavitt is a Vancouver-based comics creator and writing teacher. Her debut book was Tangles: A Story About Alzheimer’s, My Mother, and Me. LISTEN | Sarah Leavitt processes grief through art: Bookends with Mattea RoachSarah Leavitt: Illustrating grief too wide for wordsMahtani’s May It Have a Happy Ending won the Hubert Evans Non-Fiction Prize. (Doubleday Canada)May It Have a Happy Ending is a memoir about the anticipatory grief of caring for a dying loved one and the gravity of their loss when they do pass.As Minelle Mahtani was finding her stride in the newsroom, hosting her radio show Sense of Place in Vancouver, her Iranian mother had been diagnosed with tongue cancer.Through vignettes and lyrical prose, Mahtani shares the intimate experience of talking with strangers while struggling to have tough conversations with close friends and family. ‘Grief made me a better radio host’: embracing hard questions in Minelle Mahtani’s memoir Mahtani is a Canadian writer and former radio host whose writing has been featured in publications like The Walrus. She is also an associate professor at the University of British Columbia. May It Have a Happy Ending is her debut memoir.LISTEN | Minelle Mahtani on her mother, love and grief: The Next ChapterMinelle Mahtani on finding her voice while her mother was losing hers (Annick Press)Anne’s YA novel Crash Landing won the Sheila A. Egoff Children’s Literature Prize. In the summer of 2010, Jay Wong is desperate to make some worthy memories before her senior year comes to close, whether that be landing a kickflip or meeting someone new. Enter Ash Chan with a skateboard, a secret and a competition they need Jay’s help filming a submission for. Crash Landing tells Jay’s story as she navigates her immigrant community in Vancouver and a newfound friendship that’s becoming something more.Li Charmaine Anne is a writer with a BFA from the University of British Columbia in creative writing and English literature. Crash Landing, their debut novel, won the 2024 Governor General’s Literary Award for young people’s literature — text. Li Charmaine Anne considers how our hobbies shape identity in new short story LISTEN | Governor General’s 2024 Literary Award winners share mirror-themed stories: CBC Radio SpecialsReflecting StoryThe remaining winners are: Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize: Death by a Thousand Cuts: Stories by Shashi Bhat Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize: wet by Leanne Dunic Roderick Haig-Brown Regional Prize: A Haida Wedding by Terri-Lynn Williams-Davidson with Robert Davidson Christie Harris Illustrated Children’s Literature Prize: A Face Is a Poem by Julie Morstad Bill Duthie Booksellers’ Choice Award: Curve!: Women Carvers on the Northwest Coast by Dana Claxton and Dr. Curtis Collins In addition to the eight awards for the annual prize categories, two awards are also awarded to writers for their body of work and contributions to the literary community.The Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Literary Excellence recognizes a writer with a substantial body of literary work throughout their career and who has contributed significantly to the literary community and industry of B.C. This year’s winner is Fred Wah. The Borealis Prize: The Commissioner of Yukon Award for Literary Contribution is awarded to an author who has spent a significant time living and working among the writing community in Yukon. Recipients are recognized for their meaningful contributions through writing, publishing, community organizing, Indigenous storytelling and more. This year’s winner is Linda Johnson. The 2026 CBC Short Story Prize is open! All award winners are honoured at the BC and Yukon Book Prizes Gala held at the University Golf Club in Vancouver. The ceremony was hosted by CBC’s North by Northwest host Margaret Gallagher. Established in 1985, the BC and Yukon Book Prizes honour and promote the achievements of the BC and Yukon book community. The prizes are supported by the West Coast Book Prize Society.
Sarah Leavitt, Minelle Mahtani and Li Charmaine Anne among 2025 BC and Yukon Book Prizes winners
