WIBA 2023 Winners Announced

The winners of the 2023 Whistler Independent Book Awards were announced on Friday, October 13, at the Literary Cabaret, one of the highlights of the annual Whistler Writers Festival for writers and readers, now in its 22 year.

The fiction winner is:

Tom Stewart for Immortal North

From the judges:
“. . . the story of a northern fur trapper and his young son is all at once philosophical and contemplative, stark, gentle, lyrical, brutal, and astonishingly full of the mysteries of love, life, fatherhood, and the natural world . . . Tom Stewart is an author who knows how to colour a world out of the dark.”

The non-fiction winner is:

Chief Robert Joseph for Namwayut: A Pathway to Reconciliation

From the judges:
“Your . . . courage in sharing your own story, as well as the historical and cultural context you provide, deepened my understanding of Indigenous world views as well as the strength and fierce resistance required to survive the institutions and attitudes of colonialism. This was a book that felt like it was full of big ideas, but also a deep appreciation for the many small steps that make up change.”

The children’s winner is:

H. Pham-Fraser (illustrations Akemi) for The Little Girl

From the judges:

“The Little Girl is a moving and enlightening picture book with a powerful ending. It’s the type of book that when readers finish, they let out a little cheer. The images are perfect for the text and wonderfully capture how it must feel to be in a new country and not completely accepted.”

Established in 2016, the Whistler Independent Book Awards provide Canadian self-published authors with a unique opportunity to have their work recognized through an independent juried process.

Administered by Vivalogue Publishing, the Canadian Authors Association and the Whistler Writing Society, the awards are sponsored by The Writers’ Union of Canada.