Vancouver World City of Literature - The Association of Book ...

award programs
There are several well-established literary award programs available to authors and
publishers in Vancouver. These awards have the dual effect of promoting local or national
literature and encouraging public engagement with the literary arts. The long-running
BC Book Prizes offers regional awards in a variety of genres, and Canada’s largest literary
prize for non-fiction—British Columbia’s National Award for Canadian Non-Fiction—
is based here as well.
Jury chair
Max Wyman (left)
presents the 2007
BC Award for
Canadian Non-
Fiction to winning
author Noah Richler.
Please see Appendix D for a list of major literary awards offered to BC’s authors and publishers.
educational programs
Vancouver boasts a wealth of resources for aspiring authors just beginning to explore their
craft, published authors wanting to continue to hone their skills, and people wishing to
join the publishing community in other roles (e.g., editor, designer, publisher). Some of the
country’s most prestigious and innovative programs in the field are found here.
Canada’s first creative writing school at the University of British Columbia (one of
Canada’s leading universities, and an institution of international reputation) remains a
prodigious producer of writing talent, but it has been joined by a half dozen other
formidable writing and publishing institutions in Vancouver.
In recognition of the importance of UNESCO’s educational mission as well as the current
UN Decade of Literacy (2003–2012), we have prepared the following outline of the main
institutions offering publishing/writing education:
Douglas College: Offers courses in creative writing, as well as professional writing,
document design, editing, and research through a unique program called Print Futures.
chapter three: the literary city
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