George Woodcock and George Ryga Awards To Be Presented at VPL

JEANNETTE ARMSTRONG
IMAGE: BC BOOKWORLD

When Jeannette Armstrong receives the $5,000 George Woodcock Lifetime Achievement Award at the Vancouver Public Library’s main branch on June 29, 2016 at 7 p.m., she will become the first First Nation author to receive the province's most prestigious literary prize in the 23-year history of the event. A permanent plaque of BC marble honouring Armstrong will be installed in the library’s Woodcock Walk of Fame and the City of Vancouver will program BC Author Appreciation Day in her honour.

On the same night, Andrew MacLeod, legislative bureau chief for The Tyee, will receive The George Ryga Award for Social Awareness in Literature. Both will be invited to make acceptance speeches.

Since 1995, the City of Vancouver (Mayor of Vancouver’s office), the Vancouver Public Library and Pacific BookWorld News Society have worked in partnership to present an annual prize to a B.C. author for outstanding and enduring contributions to BC society. Each year the mayor of Vancouver proclaims BC Author Achievement Day in honour of the new recipient. The George Ryga Award for Social Awareness in Literature is awarded annually to a BC writer who has achieved an outstanding degree of social awareness in a book published in the preceding calendar year.  For further information about the awards, visit www.bcbookawards.ca

FREE PUBLIC EVENT

Wednesday, Jun. 29, 7 p.m.
Alice MacKay Room
Vancouver Public Library
350 West Georgia St, Vancouver

For further information, interviews or photos of the recipients, contact Stephen Barrington at Vancouver Public Library, 604 331 3895 or email Stephen.Barrington@vpl.ca.