Guy Vanderhaeghe wins book of the year at 2025 Saskatchewan Book Awards
The annual awards celebrate excellence in writing and publishing in the province
Saskatchewan author Guy Vanderhaeghe won both the Non-Fiction and Book of the Year Award at the 2025 Saskatchewan Book Awards.
Since 1993, the awards are presented annually in recognition of the best books in the province across 14 categories.
The Esterhazy, Sask.-born Vanderhaeghe is recognized for his memoir Because Somebody Asked Me To.
Because Somebody Asked Me To is celebrated writer Guy Vanderhaeghe's response to all the editors and publishers who have asked him for his insights on books, history and literature spanning his prolific career. It examines the state of Canadian literature when he first appeared on the scene in 1982, what's happened since and where it can go from here.
Vanderhaeghe is a novelist, short story writer and playwright. Except for a brief stint in Ottawa, Vanderhaeghe has always lived in his home province and was part of a new generation of writers forging Saskatchewan's contemporary literary scene. His first published short story was in the second-ever issue of the long-running Grain literary magazine based in Saskatoon.
Vanderhaeghe's debut short story collection Man Descending, published in 1982, earned him the Governor General's Literary Award and later the Faber Prize in Britain. He would go on to win two more Governor General's Literary Awards: in 1996 for The Englishman's Boy and in 2015 for the short story collection Daddy Lenin and Other Stories.
His book The Last Crossing won Canada Reads 2004. He won the Timothy Findley Prize, the Harbourfront Literary Prize and the Cheryl and Henry Kloppenburg Prize for his complete body of work.
LISTEN | Guy Vanderhaeghe discusses the literary culture in Saskatoon on The Current:
Other notable winners include Victoria Koops, Dave Margoshes, Jarol Boan and Sylvia Legris.
Koops won the Young Adult Literature award for Who We Are in Real Life, a book about two young star-crossed lovers who meet in a game of Dungeons & Dragons.
Koops is a Saskatchewan-based author and practicing counsellor. Who We Are in Real Life is her debut novel.
Margoshes won the Fiction Book Award for his novel A Simple Carpenter, which is a blend of thriller, magical realism and biblical fable.
Margoshes is a poet and fiction writer and former journalist known for blending genres and is a former finalist in the 2016 CBC Short Story Prize and the 2012 Poetry Prize.
LISTEN | Dave Margoshes speaks about being longlisted for the CBC Short Story Prize on Afternoon Edition:
Boan won the First Book Award for The Medicine Chest, a nonfiction book about Boan's experiences as a physician returning to her childhood home in Saskatchewan and coming to terms with the ways the healthcare system fails Indigenous communities across Canada.
Boan is a physician and Associate Professor at the University of Saskatchewan.
LISTEN | Jarol Boan talks about being nominated for the Saskatchewan Book Awards on Saskatchewan Weekend:
Sylvia Legris won the City of Saskatoon Book Award for The Principle of Rapid Peering.
Legris is a Saskatoon poet and author originally from Winnipeg. She has published several volumes of poetry, including The Hideous Hidden and Nerve Squall, which won the 2006 Griffin Poetry Prize and the Pat Lowther Award.
LISTEN | Sylvia Legris discusses her poetry collection Garden Physic on The Next Chapter:
"It's another year to celebrate the amazing diversity of our Saskatchewan literary community," said SBA Chair, Jack Walton," said Saskatchewan Book Award chairperson, Jack Walton in a press statement. "Except for double winner, Guy Vanderhaeghe, the book prizes were evenly distributed amongst authors and publishers. This is especially encouraging for emerging Saskatchewan authors because they see an opportunity for their books to be promoted and celebrated."
The awards were presented at a gala event at Saskatoon's TCU Place and each award comes with a $2,000 prize, except for the Book of the Year Award which is $3,000.
The full list of winners includes:
- First Book Award: The Medicine Chest: A Physician's Journey Towards Reconciliation by Jarol Boan
- City of Saskatoon Book Award: The Principle of Rapid Peering by Sylvia Legris
- City of Regina Book Award: I Think We've Been Here Before by Suzy Krause
- Non-Fiction Award: Because Somebody Asked Me To: Observations on History, Literature, and the Passing Scene by Guy Vanderhaeghe
- Jennifer Welsh Scholarly Writing Award: Eroding a Way of Life: Neoliberalism and the Family Farm by Murray Knuttila
- Poetry Award: I Hate Parties by Jes Battis
- Indigenous Peoples' Writing Award: The Art of Faye Heavyshield by Felicia Gay
- Le Prix du Livre Français: La Nation provisoire: The Provisional Nation by Laurier Gareau
- Young Adult Literature Award: Who We Are in Real Life by Victoria Koops
- Fiction Award: A Simple Carpenter by Dave Margoshes
- Creative Saskatchewan Publishing Award: University of Regina Press for The Good Walk: Creating New Paths on Traditional Prairie Trails by Matthew R. Anderson
- SaskBooks Publishing in Education Award: Mackenzie Art Gallery for Radical Stitch by Sherry Ferrell Racette, Michelle LaVallee, Cathy Mattes
- Indigenous People's Publishing Award: Tanning Moosehides: the Northern Saskatchewan Trapline Way by Tommy Bird, Lawrence Adam, Lena Adam, Miriam Körner
- Book of the Year Award: Because Somebody Asked Me To: Observations on History, Literature, and the Passing Scene by Guy Vanderhaeghe
- with files from CBC Saskatchewan
