Sarah Louise Bulter’s Rufous & Calliope - Finalist for the 2026 BC and Yukon Book Prize’s Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize
Douglas & McIntyre is thrilled to announce that Rufous and Calliope by Sarah Louise Butler, is a finalist for the 42nd Annual 2026 BC and Yukon Book Prize’s Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize.
Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize is awarded to the author of the best work of literary fiction:
- Sarah Louise Butler, Rufous and Calliope (Douglas & McIntyre)
- Bill Gaston, Tunnel Island: Stories (Thistledown Press)
- Susan Juby, Contemplation of a Crime (HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.)
- Maria Reva, Endling (Knopf Canada)
- Sam Wiebe, The Last Exile (Harbour Publishing)
In this geographic fiction of love and loss, a cartographer, experiencing memory deterioration, retraces a childhood summer with his siblings. His hike through the interior of BC, in search of a treehouse where he spent one memorable season on the run with his siblings, is a search for slivers of past relationships with family and the natural world. But neither the wilderness nor his memory is as it seems, as Sarah Butler masterfully weaves a mesmerizing story of survival, the bond between siblings, and the mysteries of the natural world. Check out the Book Trailer.
AUTHOR STATEMENT: “Growing up, I was always hearing about how much I resembled my maternal grandmother, who was afflicted with an unusual, early-onset form of dementia. The comparison left me with the irrational notion that I’ll suffer the same fate, and this novel grapples with reimagining that outcome in a way that is less terrifying and more whimsical.
I was a rural kid born at the tail end of Generation X, and spent far more time with my siblings than with our busy hardworking parents. This novel plays out my childhood conviction that, if anything were to happen to our parents, my brothers and sister and me would all run away and live together in a treehouse in the woods. What could possibly go wrong?” – Sarah Louise Butler
Sarah Louise Butler is a novelist based in the West Kootenay region of the BC Interior. With a background in physical geography and environmental studies, her stories seek to portray natural landscapes and their non-human inhabitants as characters in their own right. Her debut novel, The Wild Heavens, was a 49th Shelf Book of the Year, and a favourite of book clubs and libraries across the country, including being chosen as a Vancouver Public Library Top 20 Favourite Books of 2020. It was recently translated and released in France. Her second novel, Rufous and Calliope, is a “geographical fiction” that features runaway children, treehouse hideaways, early-onset dementia and the persistence of hope amidst ecological grief. Butler was named a CBC Writer to Watch in 2020. Follow her on Instagram: @sarahlouise.butler
The Mission of the BC and Yukon Book Prizes is to recognize and promote the achievements of the book community in BC and Yukon through the BC and Yukon Book Prizes and related programs.
The BC and Yukon Book Prizes, established in 1985, celebrate the achievements of British Columbia and Yukon writers, illustrators and publishers. The 10 Prizes are presented annually at the BC and Yukon Book Prizes Gala and are administered and awarded by members of a non-profit society who represent all facets of the publishing and writing community.
A soirée to celebrate the shortlisted authors will be held on Thursday, May 21, at 6:30 pm at Book Warehouse in Vancouver (632 West Broadway). This casual, celebratory event to kick off the festivities is free and open to the public. Finalist books will be available to purchase.
The winners in the eight categories will be announced at the BC and Yukon Book Prizes Gala on Saturday, September 19, 2026 at the University Golf Club in Vancouver, along with the recipient of the 2026 Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Literary Excellence and the Borealis Prize: The Commissioner of Yukon Award for Literary Contribution. For a list of all the finalists for all prizes, visit Winners & Finalists - BC and Yukon Book Prizes