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2023 Alberta Book Publishing Awards Shortlist

The Book Publishers Association of Alberta have announced the shortlist for the 2023 Alberta Book Publishing Awards!

Created to recognize and celebrate the best of the Alberta book publishing industry, the Alberta Book Publishing Awards have grown alongside the industry to capture the excellence and innovation of Alberta’s book publishers. This year, jurors evaluated 126 submissions from Alberta publishers across 15 categories.

The inaugural Mystery & Thriller Book of the Year Award will be awarded to a work of mystery, crime, noir, or thriller fiction published primarily for the trade or bookstore market, and the Mel Hurtig Publisher of the Year Award will be awarded to an Alberta publisher who exemplifies the spirit of the Alberta book publishing community. The BPAA will also be awarding the Lifetime Achievement in Publishing Award to an individual who has made a tremendous contribution to the world of books in Alberta, and the Special Achievement in Publishing Award, honouring an individual who best exemplifies the spirit of the Alberta book publishing community.

The winners of the 2023 Alberta Book Publishing Awards will be announced at a gala reception at the Matrix Hotel in Edmonton on Thursday, September 21, 2023. The gala is open to the public and more information on how to purchase tickets will be shared on the BPAA website in mid July. Leading up to the gala, the featured categories and shortlisted titles will be highlighted on Facebook and Twitter. Follow along and join in the conversation using the hashtags #ABPubShortlist and #ABPubAwards.

Click on the publisher name next to each shortlisted book listed below to find more information about that title. And click the “Shop Local” button at the top of the list, to find your local, independent bookstore.

Congratulations to this year’s finalists!

Find a bookstore near you:

Learning Book of the Year

Principles and Techniques for the Aspiring Surgeon: What Great Surgeons Do Without Thinking

Keegan Guidolin (CA)

Published: Apr 25, 2022 by Brush Education
ISBN: 9781550599190
Vancouver Notes for Internal Medicine: High-Yield Consult Guides

Published: Oct 14, 2022 by Brush Education
ISBN: 9781550598995
Canadian Performance Documents and Debates: A Sourcebook

Published: Aug 24, 2022 by University of Alberta Press
ISBN: 9781772126044

Douglas Barbour Award for Speculative Fiction

Book Cover: The Rosetta Mind by Claire McCagueThe Rosetta Mind

Claire McCague (CA)

Published: Aug 18, 2022 by EDGE Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing
ISBN: 9781770532137

 

Cover of Pawns and Phantoms

Pawns and Phantoms: An Everland Mystery

Misha Handman (CA)

Published: Aug 18, 2022 by EDGE Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing
ISBN: 9781770532106

 

Ezra's Ghosts: Stories

Darcy Tamayose (CA)

Published: Apr 15, 2022 by NeWest Press
ISBN: 9781774390474

 

Book Cover: The Astronaut Always Rings Twice edited by Shannon Allen & JR CampbellThe Astronaut Always Rings Twice

ed. Shannon Allen & JR Campbell (CA)

Published: Aug 16, 2022 by Tyche Books
ISBN: 9781989407448

 

Robert Kroetsch Award for Poetry

Transcribing Moonlight

Skylar Kay (CA)

Published: by Frontenac House Ltd.
ISBN: 9781989466346
Separation Anxiety

Gavin Bradley

Published: Mar 18, 2022 by University of Alberta Press
ISBN: 9781772126013
You Might Be Sorry You Read This

Michelle Poirier Brown (CA)

Published: Mar 16, 2022 by University of Alberta Press
ISBN: 9781772126037

Graphic Novel of the Year

King Warrior

Jay Bulckaert (CA), Erika Nyyssonen

Published: Sep 14, 2022 by Renegade Arts Entertainment
ISBN: 9781989754146
Siegfried: Dragon Slayer

Mark Allard-Will (CA)

Published: Feb 16, 2022 by Renegade Arts Entertainment
ISBN: 9781989754115
Alberta Comics: Home

Jillian Fleck

Published: Sep 14, 2022 by Renegade Arts Entertainment
ISBN: 9781989754160
Five Stalks of Grain

Adrian Lysenko (CA)

Published: Nov 15, 2022 by University of Calgary Press
ISBN: 9781773853758

Children’s & Young Adult Book of the Year

King Warrior

Jay Bulckaert (CA), Erika Nyyssonen

Published: Sep 14, 2022 by Renegade Arts Entertainment
ISBN: 9781989754146
Howdy, I'm Flores LaDue

Ayesha Clough (CA)

Published: Mar 08, 2022 by Red Barn Books
ISBN: 9781989915042
Olya & Olena Escape the Invaders

Olya Illichov, Maddy Shyba (CA)

Published: Aug 01, 2022 by Durvile Publications
ISBN: 9781990735141
Samuel & the Little People

Arnold Isbister

Published: Mar 01, 2023 by Eschia Books
ISBN: 9781990321092

Book Illustration

King Warrior

Jay Bulckaert (CA), Erika Nyyssonen

Published: Sep 14, 2022 by Renegade Arts Entertainment
ISBN: 9781989754146
Alberta Comics: Home

Jillian Fleck

Published: Sep 14, 2022 by Renegade Arts Entertainment
ISBN: 9781989754160
Olya & Olena Escape the Invaders

Olya Illichov, Maddy Shyba (CA)

Published: Aug 01, 2022 by Durvile Publications
ISBN: 9781990735141
Siksikaitsitapi: Stories of the Blackfoot People

Payne Many Guns (CA), Crystal Many Fingers (CA), Sheena Potts (CA)

Published: Apr 26, 2022 by Durvile Publications
ISBN: 9781988824833

Mel Hurtig Publisher of the Year

Logo: Durvile & UpRoute Books

Logo:NeWest Press

Lois Hole Award for Editorial Excellence

To be announced at the 2023 Alberta Book Publishing Awards Gala

Mystery & Thriller Book of the Year

Going to Beautiful

Anthony Bidulka (CA)

Published: May 01, 2022 by Stonehouse Publishing
ISBN: 9781988754352
To Those Who Killed Me

J.T. Siemens (CA)

Published: Apr 01, 2022 by NeWest Press
ISBN: 9781774390436
There Are Wolves Here Too

Niall Howell (CA)

Published: Sep 01, 2022 by NeWest Press
ISBN: 9781774390597
Why Are You Still Here?: A Lillian Mystery

Lynda Partridge (CA), Dave Nicholson (CA)

Published: Sep 01, 2022 by Durvile Publications
ISBN: 9781988824826

Scholarly & Academic Book of the Year

The Joint Arctic Weather Stations: Science and Sovereignty in the High Arctic, 1946-1972

Daniel Heidt (CA), P. Whitney Lackenbauer (CA)

Published: Apr 15, 2022 by University of Calgary Press
ISBN: 9781773852577
Canadian Performance Documents and Debates: A Sourcebook

Published: Aug 24, 2022 by University of Alberta Press
ISBN: 9781772126044
Memory and Landscape: Indigenous Responses to a Changing North

Published: Oct 31, 2022 by Athabasca University Press
ISBN: 9781771993159

Trade Fiction Book of the Year

The Taste of Hunger

Barbara Joan Scott (CA)

Published: Sep 01, 2022 by Freehand Books
ISBN: 9781990601187
Grieving for Pigeons: Twelve Stories of Lahore

Zubair Ahmad

Published: May 31, 2022 by Athabasca University Press
ISBN: 9781771992817
Ezra's Ghosts: Stories

Darcy Tamayose (CA)

Published: Apr 15, 2022 by NeWest Press
ISBN: 9781774390474

Trade Non-Fiction Book of the Year

A Stunning Backdrop: Alberta in the Movies, 1917-1960

Mary Graham (CA)

Published: Oct 31, 2022 by University of Calgary Press
ISBN: 9781773853932
Modern Fables

Mikka Jacobsen (CA)

Published: Sep 01, 2022 by Freehand Books
ISBN: 9781990601217
Ghosts in a Photograph: A Chronical

Myrna Kostash (CA)

Published: Oct 01, 2022 by NeWest Press
ISBN: 9781774390573
Tracking the Caribou Queen: Memoir of a Settler Girlhood

Margaret Macpherson (CA)

Published: Oct 15, 2022 by NeWest Press
ISBN: 9781774390610

Regional Book of the Year

Canadian Rockies Trail Guide

Brian Patton (CA)

Published: May 15, 2022 by Summerthought Publishing
ISBN: 9781926983530
A Stunning Backdrop: Alberta in the Movies, 1917-1960

Mary Graham (CA)

Published: Oct 31, 2022 by University of Calgary Press
ISBN: 9781773853932
Howdy, I'm Flores LaDue

Ayesha Clough (CA)

Published: Mar 08, 2022 by Red Barn Books
ISBN: 9781989915042

Book Cover Design

Who Has Seen the Wind: 75th Anniversary Illustrated Edition

W.O. Mitchell (CA)

Published: Nov 08, 2022 by Freehand Books
ISBN: 9781990601125
Grieving for Pigeons: Twelve Stories of Lahore

Zubair Ahmad

Published: May 31, 2022 by Athabasca University Press
ISBN: 9781771992817

Book Cover: Little Wet-Paint Girl, by Ouanessa Younsi, translated by Rebecca L. ThompsonLittle Wet-Paint Girl

Ouanessa Younsi (CA)

Published: Oct 31, 2022 by Athabasca University Press
ISBN: 9781778290060

 

There Are Wolves Here Too

Niall Howell (CA)

Published: Sep 01, 2022 by NeWest Press
ISBN: 9781774390597

Book Design

Wan

Dawn Promislow (CA)

Published: May 01, 2022 by Freehand Books
ISBN: 9781988298993
Memory and Landscape: Indigenous Responses to a Changing North

Published: Oct 31, 2022 by Athabasca University Press
ISBN: 9781771993159
Ezra's Ghosts: Stories

Darcy Tamayose (CA)

Published: Apr 15, 2022 by NeWest Press
ISBN: 9781774390474
Ghosts in a Photograph: A Chronical

Myrna Kostash (CA)

Published: Oct 01, 2022 by NeWest Press
ISBN: 9781774390573

Special Achievement in Publishing Awards

To be announced at the 2023 Alberta Book Publishing Awards Gala

Lifetime Achievement in Publishing Award

To be announced at the 2023 Alberta Book Publishing Awards Gala