Still Paddling.
Photo credit Diane Hill
It was a great surprise and pleasure for me to find I was a finalist in the BC and Yukon Book Prizes’ Bill Duthie Award. This is given to a book that is a choice of booksellers, a gratifying recommendation. The award is decided on the Sept 21, 2025.
The BC and Yukon Book Prizes invited us all to soiree at the Book Warehouse on Broadway on May 22nd. https://thebcreview.ca/2025/05/23/2557-hughes-2025-bc-yukon-book-prizes-soiree/
It was great fun to talk to other authors. My friend Cindy Labonte-Smith drove us both (through that miserable downtown traffic) to the event and more quickly home.
Megan Cole, Interim Executive Director of the BC and Yukon Book Prizes interviewed me in a podcast which will be available June 7th at https://soundcloud.com/bcyukonbookprizes
Finalists to the awards are asked to participate in events set up and supported by BC and Yukon Book Prizes organization. One is schedule in Nanaimo on June 12th for me, finalist for the Bill Duthie Booksellers’ Choice Award, and Scott Alexander Howard , finalist for the Ethel Wilson Fiction Award ,at Windowseat Books at 6 – 8:30 pm. I’d love to see my friends and relatives from Nanaimo and area at that event. Upcoming Events – BC and Yukon Book Prizes
In other news, my seventh book in the British Book Tour Mysteries under my pen name of Emma Dakin will be published by Camel Books. I am not sure of the release date but will let you know. At the moment, it’s titled Murder in the Village, but that may change.
Bloomsbury to Barkerville: The Life of Florence Wilson will be published by Heritage House Publishing, but I don’t have the release date yet.
I am going to trek up to the Nicola Valley in June to do some research for a new mystery series. I’ll take my dog. We’ll see how we get on. I wish we had the same rules as Britain or France where you can take your dogs into public places, including many pubs and eateries. I think I’ll be eating a lot of take-out.
It has been a cool May. My cucumber plants are still indoors. Let’s hope summer is soon, but not too hot.