We are excited to announce the shortlist for the second annual Whistler Independent Book Awards was announced today by the WIBA evaluation committee.

Nominated for the 2017 fiction award are: Annie Daylon for Of Sea and Sand: The Kerrigan Chronicles, Book 1; Elen Ghulam for Spoonful Chronicles; Emma L.R. Hogg for The Fourth Wall; R.L. Prendergast for The Confessions of Socrates; John Pringle for Spirals: Stories of Northwest Ontario; and Farida Somjee for The Beggar’s Dance.

The 2017 non-fiction nominees are: Marilyn Laura Bowman for James Legge and the Chinese Classics; John Early for Tales of the Modern Nomad: Monks, Mushrooms and Other Misadventures; Larissa Fleurette for Becoming Silver Girl; Monique Layton for Notes from Elsewhere: Travel and Other Matters; Patricia Sandberg for Sun Dogs and Yellowcake: Gunnar Mines — A Canadian Story; and Paul Shore for Uncorked: My Year in Provence. Evaluation of all the entries for the competition was conducted by Vivalogue Publishing with support from Behind the Book Author Services. “We had some very strong entries this year, especially in the fiction category,” said Lynn Duncan of Vivalogue Publishing. “Submissions came from self-published Canadian authors from across the country, and were generally of a consistently high standard.”

The finalists, three in each category, will be selected from the shortlist by judges from Canadian Authors-Metro Vancouver, part of the national Canadian Authors Association which was founded in 1921 to promote and encourage works of literary and artistic merit. The finalists will be announced on July 17, 2017, with the winners’ presentation at the Whistler Writers Festival, October 12-15, 2017.

Determining the winner of the fiction category in 2017 will Canadian author and Giller Prize finalist Gail Anderson-Dargatz and Darcie Friesen Hossack, who has been shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers Prize. The non-fiction winner will be selected by distinguished West Coast authors J.J. Lee and Susan Oakey-Baker.

Jointly produced by the Whistler Writing Society and Vivalogue Publishing, the Whistler Independent Book Award is now in its second year and is the only juried Canadian award for self-published authors.

The winners of the awards will have an opportunity to read and present their books at the 2017 Whistler Writers Festival October 12 – 15. Tickets go on sale at www.whistlerwritersfest.com August 15th.