The finalists for the 2016 Victoria Butler Book Prize were announced yesterday in Victoria. Celebrating thirteen years of literary excellence, the award is bestowed annually to authors of fiction, non-fiction, or poetry from the Greater Victoria area.

Included on this year’s list of finalists is The Hunter and the Wild Girl by Pauline Holdstock. A haunting tale of loss and redemption set against the backdrop of nineteenth-century France, The Hunter and the Wild Girl was published to wide critical acclaim in 2015.

Also nominated for this year’s Victoria Butler Book Prize are Once They Were Hats: In Search of the Mighty Beaver by Frances Backhouse (non-fiction, ECW Press), Becoming Lin by Tricia Dower (fiction, Caitlin Press), He Leaves His Face in the Funeral Car by Arleen Paré (poetry, Caitlin Press), and Double Dutch by Laura Trunkey (fiction, House of Anansi).

The winner will be announced at an Awards Gala on Wednesday, October 12, 2016 at 7:30 p.m. at the Union Club of British Columbia at 805 Gordon Street.