UBC Professor Keith Maillard received the Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Literary Excellence from the BC and Yukon Book Prizes. Photo credit: Tiffany Brown Cooper

UBC School of Creative Writing professor Keith Maillard recently won the 2024 Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Literary Excellence from the BC and Yukon Book Prizes. Established in 2003, the award recognizes annually a British Columbian writer who has contributed to the development of literary excellence in the province. Nominees are considered for having written a substantial body of literary work throughout their career and for having contributed significantly to the literary community/industry. Maillard received an award of $3,000.

“The School of Creative Writing is thrilled that Keith has won the Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Literary Excellence. As one of our longest-serving faculty members, a prolific author, and generous teacher, we congratulate him wholeheartedly for this well-deserved recognition of his long influence on the BC literary community,” says Annabel Lyon, director of the School of Creative Writing.

Maillard has taught fiction, nonfiction and poetry in the School of Creative Writing since 1989.  The role of teacher and thesis supervisor remains important to Maillard. He says, “I love teaching, and I love my students. I’ve learned as much from them as they’ve learned from me.”

Through his written work, Maillard demonstrates the ability to use writing as a social act. He often confronts difficult topics in his writing with a sensitivity that creates a deep connection with his readers. His most recent novel, In Defense of Liberty, is a powerful, fast-paced novel exploring gender nonconformity set on a US college campus in 1964.

From the jury citation, “The depth and scope of Keith’s five decade-long career is undeniable. He authored almost two dozen books; he has written articles, reviews, essays poems and contributed to anthologies; he continues to write and mentor the next generation of writers. Keith is an influential teacher and mentor at UBC’s School of Creative Writing. He champions the craft of writing and works to uplift new voices. He has had a profound influence on writers and his students/mentees all speak of a specific kindness and generosity, a genuine willingness to find what a writer needs to say and to help them hone their unique style and voice.

We recognize that a career of excellence involves far more than what meets the reader on a page. Writers with influence touch people. They work in life’s margins to foster creativity, courage, exploration and self-discovery. We would be remiss not to mention the countless readers, students and fellow writers who have been influenced by his work.”

Maillard expressed how receiving the Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Literary Excellence at the BC and Yukon Book Prizes annual gala was meaningful to him:

“I was moved. I felt humbled and grateful. I’ve lived here in British Columbia since 1970, and I’m deeply honoured to have my work recognized as contributing to the literary fabric of this province. Also, I immediately thought of the many people who have helped me along the way. It really does take a village to make a writer.”

Maillard is the author of fifteen novels, one book of poetry, and two memoirs. He has won the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize and was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Literary Prize and the Governor General’s Literary Awards. The Clarinet Polka was awarded the Creative Arts Prize by the Polish American Historical Association. Dementia Americana won the Gerald Lampert Award in 1995 for the Best First Book of Poetry Published in Canada.

Maillard was born and raised in Wheeling, West Virginia, the inspiration for the fictional town of Raysburg which serves as the setting for many of his novels. He has been a musician, a contributor for CBC Radio, a freelance photographer, and a journalist.

Finalists

The School of Creative Writing is pleased to congratulate all the finalists of the 2024 BC and Yukon Book Prizes.

The following members of the School were winners or finalists this year:

Winners:

• Alum Wanda John-Kehewin for Hopeless in Hope, for the Sheila A. Egoff Children’s Literature Prize
• Lecturer Jordan Scott for My Baba’s Garden, winner of the Christie Harris Illustrated Children’s Literature Prize

Finalists:

• Alum Dominique Bernier-Cormier for Entre Rive and Shore
• The Fire Still Burns: Life In and After Residential School (by Sam George, with Liam Belson, UBC alum Jill Yonit Goldberg, Dylan MacPhee, and Tanis Wilson)
• Alum Lindsay Wong for Tell Me Pleasant Things about Immortality