Two Victoria authors were awarded with the Victoria Book Prize on Wednesday night.
Kathy Page won the City of Victoria Butler Book prize for her novel, Dear Evelyn, while Aidan Cassie won the Victoria Children’s Book Prize for her picture book, Sterling, Best Dog Ever. Both awards were accompanied by a $5,000 prize.
“Congratulations to Kathy and Aidan on winning the 2019 Victoria Book Prizes,” said Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps, who co-presented the awards alongside co-sponsor Brian Butler and Alyssa Polinsky, president of the Victoria Book Prize Society.
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“The talent of our local authors continues to inspire me and is a testimony to how the literary arts enriches our lives and the community.”
Kathy Page was born in the United Kingdom, and moved to the West Coast of Canada in 2001. Her works include Frankie Styne and the Silver Man, and Alphabet, which was a Governor General’s Award finalist in 2005. Two of her books, Paradise and Elsewhere (2014) and The Two of Us (2016) were nominated for the Giller Prize.
Dear Evelyn explores how two people born between the world wars in London come together and shape and reshape each other over a lifetime.
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Aidan Cassie is an author-illustrator who grew up on Canada’s West Coast. At Emily Carr University and the Edinburgh College of Art, she studied animation and media arts. While living in Provence she debuted her first picture book Sterling, Best Dog Ever.
The children’s book tells the story of a dog who has always wanted a home, but nobody wants him. One day he sees that a sign at a cutlery business promising “free shipping to homes around the world,” leading him on a mission to be the best fork ever.
