Guy Vanderhaeghe wins book of the year at 2025 Saskatchewan Book Awards

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Books

Since 1993, the awards are presented annually successful designation of the champion books successful the state crossed 14 categories. Other 2025 winners see Dave Margoshes, Sylvia Legris, Felicia Gay and Victoria Koops.

The yearly awards observe excellence successful penning and publishing successful the province

CBC Books

· Posted: Jun 02, 2025 8:17 AM EDT | Last Updated: 4 hours ago

A achromatic  antheral   with abbreviated  brownish  hairsbreadth  and glasses sits successful  an armchair holding a mug. A publication  screen  shows the countryside speeding by.

Because Somebody Asked Me To is an effort postulation by Guy Vanderhaeghe. (David Stobbe, Thistledown Press)

Saskatchewan author Guy Vanderhaeghe won some the Non-Fiction and Book of the Year Award astatine the 2025 Saskatchewan Book Awards.

Since 1993, the awards are presented annually successful designation of the champion books successful the province across 14 categories. 

The Esterhazy, Sask.-born Vanderhaeghe is recognized for his memoir Because Somebody Asked Me To.

Because Somebody Asked Me To is celebrated writer Guy Vanderhaeghe's effect to each the editors and publishers who person asked him for his insights connected books, past and lit spanning his prolific career. It examines the authorities of Canadian lit erstwhile helium archetypal appeared connected the country successful 1982, what's happened since and wherever it tin spell from here. 

  • Guy Vanderhaeghe: How I wrote Daddy Lenin and Other Stories

Vanderhaeghe is simply a novelist, abbreviated communicative writer and playwright. Except for a little stint successful Ottawa, Vanderhaeghe has ever lived successful his location state and was portion of a caller procreation of writers forging Saskatchewan's modern literate scene. His archetypal published abbreviated communicative was successful the second-ever contented of the long-running Grain literary mag based successful Saskatoon.

Vanderhaeghe's debut abbreviated communicative collection Man Descending, published successful 1982, earned him the Governor General's Literary Award and aboriginal the Faber Prize successful Britain. He would spell connected to triumph 2 much Governor General's Literary Awards: successful 1996 for The Englishman's Boy and successful 2015 for the abbreviated communicative collection Daddy Lenin and Other Stories.

His book The Last Crossing won Canada Reads 2004. He won the Timothy Findley Prize, the Harbourfront Literary Prize and the Cheryl and Henry Kloppenburg Prize for his complete assemblage of work. 

LISTEN | Guy Vanderhaeghe discusses the literate civilization successful Saskatoon connected The Current:

The Current11:36Why Saskatoon has ever been a haven for writers

Award-winning writer Guy Vanderhaeghe takes america connected a circuit of Saskatoon to stock what radical emotion astir the city, and explicate wherefore it’s agelong been a haven for writers and artists.

Other notable winners include Victoria Koops, Dave Margoshes, Jarol Boan and Sylvia Legris.

Who We Are successful  Real Life by Victoria Koops. Illustrated publication  screen  of a young antheral   and pistillate   playing Dungeons and Dragons and a witch and greenish  elf successful  the background.

Koops won the Young Adult Literature grant for Who We Are successful Real Life, a publication astir 2 young star-crossed lovers who conscionable successful a crippled of Dungeons & Dragons. 

Koops is simply a Saskatchewan-based writer and practicing counsellor. Who We Are successful Real Life is her debut novel. 

Margoshes won the Fiction Book Award for his caller A Simple Carpenter, which is simply a blend of thriller, magical realism and biblical fable. 

Margoshes is simply a writer and fabrication writer and erstwhile journalist known for blending genres and is simply a erstwhile finalist successful the 2016 CBC Short Story Prize and the 2012 Poetry Prize. 

LISTEN | Dave Margoshes speaks astir being longlisted for the CBC Short Story Prize connected Afternoon Edition:

CBC Books5:44CBC Short Story Prize: Dave Margoshes

Boan won the First Book Award for The Medicine Chest, a nonfiction publication astir Boan's experiences arsenic a doc returning to her puerility location successful Saskatchewan and coming to presumption with the ways the healthcare strategy fails Indigenous communities crossed Canada.

Boan is simply a doc and Associate Professor astatine the University of Saskatchewan. 

LISTEN | Jarol Boan talks astir being nominated for the Saskatchewan Book Awards on Saskatchewan Weekend:

Saskatchewan Weekend17:01'The Medicine Chest' nominated for 5 Saskatchewan Book Awards

Sylvia Legris won the City of Saskatoon Book Award for The Principle of Rapid Peering.

Legris is a Saskatoon writer and writer primitively from Winnipeg. She has published respective volumes of poetry, including The Hideous Hidden and Nerve Squall, which won the 2006 Griffin Poetry Prize and the Pat Lowther Award. 

LISTEN | Sylvia Legris discusses her poesy postulation Garden Physic connected The Next Chapter:

13:09Sylvia Legris connected Garden Physic

"It's different twelvemonth to observe the astonishing diverseness of our Saskatchewan literate community," said SBA Chair, Jack Walton," said Saskatchewan Book Award chairperson, Jack Walton successful a property statement. "Except for treble winner, Guy Vanderhaeghe, the publication prizes were evenly distributed amongst authors and publishers. This is particularly encouraging for emerging Saskatchewan authors due to the fact that they spot an accidental for their books to beryllium promoted and celebrated."

The awards were presented astatine a gala lawsuit astatine Saskatoon's TCU Place and each grant comes with a $2,000 prize, but for the Book of the Year Award which is $3,000.

The afloat database of winners includes:

  • First Book Award: The Medicine Chest: A Physician's Journey Towards Reconciliation by Jarol Boan
  • City of Saskatoon Book Award: The Principle of Rapid Peering by Sylvia Legris
  • City of Regina Book Award: I Think We've Been Here Before by Suzy Krause
  • Non-Fiction Award: Because Somebody Asked Me To: Observations connected History, Literature, and the Passing Scene by Guy Vanderhaeghe
  • Jennifer Welsh Scholarly Writing Award: Eroding a Way of Life: Neoliberalism and the Family Farm by Murray Knuttila
  • Poetry Award: I Hate Parties by Jes Battis
  • Indigenous Peoples' Writing Award: The Art of Faye Heavyshield by Felicia Gay
  • Le Prix du Livre Français: La Nation provisoire: The Provisional Nation by Laurier Gareau
  • Young Adult Literature Award: Who We Are successful Real Life by Victoria Koops
  • Fiction Award: A Simple Carpenter by Dave Margoshes
  • Creative Saskatchewan Publishing Award: University of Regina Press for The Good Walk: Creating New Paths connected Traditional Prairie Trails by Matthew R. Anderson
  • SaskBooks Publishing successful Education Award: Mackenzie Art Gallery for Radical Stitch by Sherry Ferrell Racette, Michelle LaVallee, Cathy Mattes
  • Indigenous People's Publishing Award: Tanning Moosehides: the Northern Saskatchewan Trapline Way by Tommy Bird, Lawrence Adam, Lena Adam, Miriam Körner
  • Book of the Year Award: Because Somebody Asked Me To: Observations connected History, Literature, and the Passing Scene by Guy Vanderhaeghe

- with files from CBC Saskatchewan

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