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VANCOUVER
– Rebecca Godfrey was honoured today
with one of Canada’s largest literary prizes, the British Columbia Award for
Canadian Non-Fiction, for her book Under the Bridge. B.C. Premier Gordon
Campbell presented Godfrey with the $25,000 prize at a ceremony in Vancouver.
The
British Columbia Award for Canadian Non-Fiction is the only national literary
award to originate in B.C and it is one of the largest awards for literary
non-fiction in Canada. Presented annually, the award was established by the
British Columbia Achievement Foundation, an independent foundation endowed by
the Province to celebrate excellence and achievement.
“This
award celebrates the important contribution Canada’s best literary non-fiction
makes to ideas and debate in this country, as well as to our imaginations and
understanding of our place in the world,” said Campbell. “Congratulations to
Ms. Godfrey for her significant achievement and to all this year’s nominees for
the unique contribution to Canada’s proud literary tradition.”
The
jury cited Godfrey’s Under the Bridge (HarperCollins) for its mesmerizing
evocation of the lives of several teenagers, whose suburban vanities and prejudices combine to produce the unthinkable: the murder of one among their
midst. With measured prose, beautiful in its starkness, Godfrey reconstructs the circumstances of
the murder of 14 year-old Reena Virk, the unravelling of the secret of it, and
the trial and its aftermath.
Godfrey’s depiction of teenage
sentiment, as disturbing as it is compassionate, lingers long
in the mind and the heart.
The
other finalists for this year’s award were J.B. MacKinnon for Dead Man in
Paradise (Douglas & McIntyre), John Terpstra for The Boys, or Waiting for
the Electrician’s Daughter (Gaspereau Press), and John Vaillant for The Golden
Spruce (Knopf Canada).
The
independent jury panel for the award was also introduced today: author Denise Chong, two-time finalist for the Governor General’s
literary award; Max Wyman, one of Canada’s leading cultural commentators and
Order of Canada recipient; and Hal Wake, former book producer for Peter
Gzowski’s Morningside and current artistic director of the Vancouver International
Writer’s Festival.
For
more information on the British Columbia Award for Canadian Non-Fiction and
this year’s finalists, please call 604 261-9777 or visit www.bcachievement.com.
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contact: |
Press Secretary Office of the Premier 250 213-8218 |
Executive Director B.C. Achievement Foundation 604 261-9777 |
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For more information on government services or to subscribe to the Province’s news feeds using RSS, visit the Province’s website at www.gov.bc.ca. |
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