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Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Literary Excellence
Vancouver, BC - The West Coast Book Prize Society is proud to recognize Kit Pearson as the recipient of the 11th annual Lieutenant Governor's Award for Literary Excellence.
British Columbia's Lieutenant Governor, the Honourable Judith Guichon, will present the award at the Lieutenant Governor's BC Book Prizes Gala to be held at the Renaissance Vancouver Harbourside Hotel in Vancouver on Saturday, May 3, 2014. The event will be hosted by author, activist, and comedian Charles Demers.
"In a career spanning three decades, Kit Pearson has demonstrated mastery in that most traditional of genres, the novel for young readers. In both her fantasies and her historical fiction she looks to the past: to Canada's war guests, to the War of 1812, to Alberta in 1949, and to Mayne Island in the 1930s. She sees children as those residents of the past who are largely overlooked in the story of where we have come from.
"Adults, who decide on things like book prizes, have noticed Kit's accomplished writing. Adults note her meticulous research, her narrative skill, her imaginative choice of subjects from all across this country, and her clearly crafted prose. She has won the Canadian Library Association Book of the Year for Children Award, the Mr. Christie's Book Award, the Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction, the Governor General's Literary Award, and a host of other honours.
"Children sometimes vote for awards as well and in casting their votes for Kit in the Red Cedar Book Award, the Manitoba Young Readers' Choice Awards, and the Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children's Book Awards, they have honoured something much more important in Kit's work: emotional authenticity. Kit's characters are never cute, generic, or remote. They are complicated, individual, and flawed. Sometimes they lie. Sometimes they are unkind. Sometimes they are unlikeable. In other words, they are real. Kit's readers resonate to this honesty with deep enthusiasm.
"Kit is a generous member of the children's writing community, being one of the co-founders of BC's children's writers and illustrators' organization, CWILL BC, which provides writers and illustrators with a way to connect, support each other, and promote children's books. She credits reading L.M. Montgomery's Emily of New Moon as an inspiration for becoming a writer. She passes the tradition along. Who knows what young apprentice writer is reading one of Kit Pearson's books right at this moment?" - Lieutenant Governor's Award for Literary Excellence jury
KIT PEARSON was born in Edmonton, Alberta in 1947 and grew up there and in Vancouver. She received her B.A. from the University of Alberta, her M.L.S. from the University of British Columbia, and her M.A. from the Simmons College Center for the Study of Children's Literature in Boston. She worked for ten years as a children's librarian in Ontario and BC, and is now a full-time writer living in Victoria. Her books have been published in Canada in English and French, in the US, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, the Netherlands, Germany, Great Britain, China, and Korea. She has won many awards for her writing, including the Vicky Metcalf Award for her body of work in 1998.
The jury for this year's Lieutenant Governor's Award for Literary Excellence was: Sarah Ellis, children's author and 2013 recipient of the Lieutenant Governor's Award for Literary Excellence; Sheila Peacock, CBC Producer; and, Jessica Walker, Store Manager at Munro's Books.
British Columbia's Lieutenant Governor, the Honourable Judith Guichon, will present the award at the Lieutenant Governor's BC Book Prizes Gala to be held at the Renaissance Vancouver Harbourside Hotel in Vancouver on Saturday, May 3, 2014. The event will be hosted by author, activist, and comedian Charles Demers.
"In a career spanning three decades, Kit Pearson has demonstrated mastery in that most traditional of genres, the novel for young readers. In both her fantasies and her historical fiction she looks to the past: to Canada's war guests, to the War of 1812, to Alberta in 1949, and to Mayne Island in the 1930s. She sees children as those residents of the past who are largely overlooked in the story of where we have come from.
"Adults, who decide on things like book prizes, have noticed Kit's accomplished writing. Adults note her meticulous research, her narrative skill, her imaginative choice of subjects from all across this country, and her clearly crafted prose. She has won the Canadian Library Association Book of the Year for Children Award, the Mr. Christie's Book Award, the Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction, the Governor General's Literary Award, and a host of other honours.
"Children sometimes vote for awards as well and in casting their votes for Kit in the Red Cedar Book Award, the Manitoba Young Readers' Choice Awards, and the Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children's Book Awards, they have honoured something much more important in Kit's work: emotional authenticity. Kit's characters are never cute, generic, or remote. They are complicated, individual, and flawed. Sometimes they lie. Sometimes they are unkind. Sometimes they are unlikeable. In other words, they are real. Kit's readers resonate to this honesty with deep enthusiasm.
"Kit is a generous member of the children's writing community, being one of the co-founders of BC's children's writers and illustrators' organization, CWILL BC, which provides writers and illustrators with a way to connect, support each other, and promote children's books. She credits reading L.M. Montgomery's Emily of New Moon as an inspiration for becoming a writer. She passes the tradition along. Who knows what young apprentice writer is reading one of Kit Pearson's books right at this moment?" - Lieutenant Governor's Award for Literary Excellence jury
KIT PEARSON was born in Edmonton, Alberta in 1947 and grew up there and in Vancouver. She received her B.A. from the University of Alberta, her M.L.S. from the University of British Columbia, and her M.A. from the Simmons College Center for the Study of Children's Literature in Boston. She worked for ten years as a children's librarian in Ontario and BC, and is now a full-time writer living in Victoria. Her books have been published in Canada in English and French, in the US, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, the Netherlands, Germany, Great Britain, China, and Korea. She has won many awards for her writing, including the Vicky Metcalf Award for her body of work in 1998.
The jury for this year's Lieutenant Governor's Award for Literary Excellence was: Sarah Ellis, children's author and 2013 recipient of the Lieutenant Governor's Award for Literary Excellence; Sheila Peacock, CBC Producer; and, Jessica Walker, Store Manager at Munro's Books.
Submitted on April 23, 2014 in By David.
