2016 City of Vancouver Book Award Goes to Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun: Unceded Territories

The 2016 City of Vancouver Book Award has been presented to artist Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun and editors Karen Duffek and Tania Willard for Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun: Unceded Territories (Figure 1 Publishing and Museum of Anthropology at UBC), a bold and provocative retrospective art catalogue that celebrates the artist's work as an expression of Indigenous rights in the unceded territory known as Vancouver. 

Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun: Unceded Territories was selected from a shortlist that included Lorimer Shenher’s That Lonely Section of Hell (Greystone Books) and The Revolving City: 51 Poems and the Stories Behind Them (Anvil Press), edited by Wayde Compton and Renée Sarojini Saklikar.

The award was announced at the 2016 Mayor’s Arts Awards on October 3 at the Roundhouse Community Arts and Recreation Centre. 

Since 1989, the annual City of Vancouver Book Award has recognized authors of excellence of any genre who contribute to the appreciation and understanding of Vancouver’s history, unique character, or the achievements of its residents. 

The $3,000 prize is funded by the City's Publishing Reserve, which was established in 1977 as a permanent legacy for Vancouver writers and publishers.

The independent jury included Shirley Lew, Dean, Library, Teaching and Learning Services at Vancouver Community College and secretary of The Vancouver Writers Festival Board of Directors; Zoey Leigh Peterson, author and librarian; and Mary Schendlinger, writer, editor, publishing teacher and co-founder of Geist magazine.