VICTORIA, B.C. — The Victoria Book Prizes Society is pleased to announce the winners of its 2025 awards. The society presented the awards at a ceremony hosted by the Honourable Wendy Cocchia at Government House on November 18.
The following local writers received the three $5,000 prizes:
• City of Victoria Children’s Book Prize – Uma Krishnaswami, Birds on the Brain (House of Anansi)
• City of Victoria Book Prize – Barbara Black, Little Fortified Stories (Caitlin Press)
• DC Reid Poetry Book Prize – Melanie Siebert, Signal Infinities (Penguin Random House)
The awards announcement followed a series of community events featuring the nine authors shortlisted for the awards. The events included an authors' panel discussion at Camosun College and an evening of poetry reading at a packed Caffe Fantastico.
“Victoria’s writers enrich our community with their creativity and insight,” said Mayor Marianne Alto. “The Book Prizes remind us that our local literary scene is vibrant and inspiring.”
About the Winning Books
Little Fortified Stories, by Barbara Black, conjures a microcosm of characters who defy convention. Curious worlds are encapsulated like a series of snow globes, swirling with deep emotion and teeming with strangeness. Inspired by art, music, alcoholic spirits and what Black calls “authentic fabrications” from her own ancestry, these eclectic tales are told with an eye to the absurd. Black recently travelled to Greece to receive the Grand Prize in the 2024 Eyelands Book Awards.
Birds on the Brain, by Uma Krishnaswami, is the sequel to the award-winning Book Uncle and Me. The story follows Reeni, a passionate young bird lover, as she sets out to save her city’s bird count event when the mayor threatens to shut it down. Through curiosity and teamwork, Reeni and her friend Yasmin discover the power of community and global connection. Krishnaswami recently returned from India, where Birds on the Brain was shortlisted for the NEEV Literature Festival.
Signal Infinites by Melanie Siebert is an extreme act of empathy and a profoundly ethical gesture toward the unknowable interiority of others. These poems embody human suffering and environmental collapse, human resilience and the buoyancy of water. Siebert shorts the circuit between the personal and universal. Signal Infinities reads like a revelation – that trauma, systemic injustice and ecological harms share the same root, and that healing, as a multidimensional and interconnected act, is possible. Siebert’s first collection of poetry, Deepwater Vee, was a finalist for the Governor General's Literary Award in Poetry.
About the DC Reid Poetry Book Prize
2025 marks the inaugural year of the DC Reid poetry prize, stemming from a community-led initiative to celebrate and recognize poets living in the region. Reid has long advocated for Canadian poets. In addition to supporting the Victoria Book Prizes, he supports published poets of modest financial means through the Writer’s Trust of Canada.
About the Victoria Book Prizes
Established in 2004, the Victoria Book Prizes Society holds an annual book prize competition to promote the public’s knowledge and appreciation of literary works produced by writers living in Victoria and its vicinity. The prizes are open to authors who have lived in the Capital Regional District for more than two years.
The Society receives support from DC Reid, Caffe Fantastico, Chateau Victoria Hotel and Suites, Friesens Corporation, Magnolia Hotel and Spa, Munro’s Books, Pratch Family Foundation, Russell Books, Greater Victoria Public Library and the City of Victoria.
For more information, visit victoriabookprizes.ca.
Media Contacts:
Colleen Mycroft
Manager, Intergovernmental and Media Relations
250.896.5325 | cmycroft@victoria.ca
Christina Haska, President
Victoria Book Prizes Society
250.507.6561 | bookprizesvictoria@gmail.com