2 Chilliwack authors shortlisted for BC and Yukon Book Prizes

Two Chilliwack authors are among the finalists in the 2022 BC and Yukon Book Prizes.

Barbara Nickel’s book Dear Peter, Dear Ulla is a finalist for the 2022 Sheila A. Egoff Children’s Literature Prize, and Nicola I. Campbell’s book Spílexm: A Weaving of Recovery, Resilience, and Resurgence is a finalist for the 2022 Jim Deva Prize for Writing that Provokes.

Nickel is a long-time Yarrow resident.

“I’m thrilled to be shortlisted for this award,” she said.

Nickel said she’s grateful to the folks with the BC and Yukon Book Prizes who are promoting all the shortlisted titles and the potential readership it will bring to her book.

“But more importantly, I’m grateful for the Prizes’ commitment to book culture, particularly all the fine authors right in my own province and in Yukon.”

Campbell’s book connects people to each other, and to the land, through Indigenous stories. She points out there are almost 60 Indigenous dialects with more than 30 Indigenous languages spoken in B.C.

“We are taught by our elders that our languages embody our deep, dynamic relationship to the landscape and waterscape,” Campbell said.

“There were many things I thought about over the last 25 years I spent working on this manuscript. I tried to find ways to honour my elders and to honour how deeply intertwined and interconnected we are to this land — as Indigenous nations we descend from thousands of years of blood lineage. The bones, dust, breath and DNA of our ancestors is the soil of this province.

“I thought about what teachers teach in the classroom, and what was missing when I was growing up. I hope, that through this, more people hear the names of our nations, and perhaps, stop for a moment and recognize how deeply connected we, as a people, are,” Campbell said.

Chilliwack artist Carrielynn Victor did the cover for Campbell’s book Spílexm: A Weaving of Recovery, Resilience, and Resurgence.

Nickel said she’s hoping to read the other four shortlisted books in her category (children’s literature) before the awards gala on Sept. 24 at the University Golf Club in Vancouver.

For more, go to bcyukonbookprizes.com.

About Dear Peter, Dear Ulla:

Dear Peter, Dear Ulla is an imaginative and beautifully crafted historical middle-grade novel about two cousins who have never met but have become fast friends through an exchange of letters—until the outbreak of World War Two interrupts their conversation. Ulla lives in Danzig, a city that has just been occupied by the Nazis, and Peter lives on a Mennonite farm in Saskatchewan. What had been an easy and entertaining connection between Peter, a talented pianist, and Ulla, who is gifted at drawing, becomes fraught with unthinkable questions. Are they supposed to consider each other enemies now that Canada and Germany are at war? While Peter deals with Bruno, a bullying neighbour boy, Ulla is secretly aiding Erwina, a Polish friend severely burned when her home in the Polish Post Office was attacked by the Nazis.

About Spíləx̣m:

If the hurt and grief we carry is a woven blanket, it is time to weave ourselves anew. In the Nłeʔkepmxcín language, spíləx̣m are remembered stories, often shared over tea in the quiet hours between Elders. Rooted within the British Columbia landscape, and with an almost tactile representation of being on the land and water, Spíləx̣m explores resilience, reconnection, and narrative memory through stories. Captivating and deeply moving, this story basket of memories tells one Indigenous woman’s journey of overcoming adversity and colonial trauma to find strength through creative works and traditional perspectives of healing, transformation, and resurgence.

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