VICTORIA, BC—Today, Eve Rickert, Royal BC Museum Publisher, was nominated to the Board of Directors of the Association of Book Publishers of BC (ABPBC).
"The entire Royal BC Museum community congratulates Ms. Rickert on her nomination to this position,” says Mischelle vanThiel, Deputy CEO and Vice President of Inclusion and Community Engagement at the Royal BC Museum. “Knowing how much she has advanced our own publishing program, we are confident that her presence, experience and perspective will benefit the Board of the Association of Book Publishers of BC.”
Ms. Rickert joined the publications team in 2018. Under her guidance, the publishing program has taken a collaborative approach to developing books, expanded distribution, increased accessibility and strengthened the museum’s commitment to publishing books by Indigenous writers.
She has also revitalized the museum’s historically popular natural history handbook series. The museum published Sharks, Skates, Rays and Chimeras of British Columbia in 2020, and will publish Mushrooms of British Columbia in 2021 and Bats of British Columbia in 2022.
Two recent Royal BC Museum publications have won awards.
Spirits of the Coast: Orcas in Science, Art and History, a literary and visual companion piece to the Royal BC Museum’s 2021 feature exhibition, Orcas: Our Shared Future, was recognized by the ABPBC as one of the top 20 bestsellers published in 2020. Spirits of the Coast, edited by Royal BC Museum curators Dr. Martha Black (retired), Dr. Lorne Hammond and Dr. Gavin Hanke, with guest editor Nikki Sanchez, was also a 2020 Nautilus Book Award Silver Winner and won a special honour as Best of Small Press.
The Chinese Canadian Historical Society of British Columbia honoured the 2020 publication Deep and Sheltered Waters: The History of Tod Inlet, by Dr. David R. Gray, with the 2021 Dr. Edgar Wickberg Book Prize for the Best Book on Chinese Canadian History.
The 2019 Royal BC Museum publication, Once Well Beloved: Remembering a British Columbia Great War Sacrifice, by Michael Sasges, was offered in braille, thanks to the National Network for Equitable Library Service’s Braille Publication Project. Additionally, since 2019, all Royal BC Museum books are also issued as ebooks, which are made available through Bookshare for individuals with print disabilities.
Looking forward, the publishing program will be releasing What Was Said to Me: The Life of Sti’tum’atul’wut, a Cowichan Woman, by Dr. Ruby Peter in collaboration with Helene Demers, on June 18, 2021. What Was Said to Me reflects the publishing program’s commitment to Indigenous people telling their own stories.
The ABPBC is a trade association, founded in 1974, whose aims are to foster an environment in which its members will flourish and to expand an awareness of the value of books in all our lives. The association works to support its members through advocacy, marketing, promotion and awareness, and business development. You can learn more at books.bc.ca.
Since its first publication in 1891, the Royal BC Museum has released hundreds of works on diverse subjects related to the province’s human and natural history. The Royal BC Museum is the oldest book publisher in BC.
The many Royal BC Museum publications are available through local bookshops, the Royal Museum Shop and online at rbcm.ca/books.
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About the Royal BC Museum: The Royal BC Museum explores the province’s human history and natural history, advances new knowledge and understanding of BC, and provides a dynamic forum for discussion and a place for reflection. The museum and archives celebrate culture and history, telling the stories of BC in ways that enlighten, stimulate and inspire. Located in Victoria on the traditional territory of the Lekwungen (Songhees and Xwsepsum Nations), we are a hub of community connections in BC–onsite, offsite and online–taking pride in our collective histories.
About the Royal BC Museum’s Publishing department: Since the first publication in 1891, the Royal BC Museum has released hundreds of works on diverse subjects, bringing the human and natural history of our province to life in exciting, innovative and personal ways.
Media contact:
news@royalbcmuseum.bc.ca
