At the 15th annual Victoria Book Prize Gala, Speaking Our Truth: A Journey of Reconciliation by Monique Gray Smith won the Bolen Books Children’s Book Prize and was awarded $5,000.

Speaking Our Truth: A Journey of Reconciliation actively explores Canada’s collective history, present and future. It may be the first time some readers have thought about what reconciliation means and, more specifically, what it means to them and their role in it. Readers will learn about the lives of residential school survivors and listen to allies who are putting the findings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission into action.

Monique Gray Smith is a mixed-heritage woman of Cree, Lakota and Scottish ancestry and a proud mom of twins. She is an accomplished consultant, writer and international speaker. Her first novel, Tilly: A Story of Hope and Resilience won the 2014 Burt Award for First Nations, Metis and Inuit Literature. Gray Smith and her family are blessed to live on Lekwungen territory.

Speaking Our Truth is also nominated for the TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award; the winner will be announced at a private Gala event on October 29th. Learn more here.

The Victoria Book Prize Society establishes the policy and criteria for the prizes, appoints the juries, and administers the competitions.

Congratulations to Monique Gray Smith!