Enemy Alien: Tamio Wakayama, edited by Paul Wong and co-published with the Vancouver Art Gallery, was named the winner of the Roderick Haig-Brown Regional Prize at the 2026 BC and Yukon Book Awards gala event, held in Vancouver on Sept. 19, 2026.

Enemy Alien is the first publication devoted to Tamio Wakayama’s remarkable photographic career, Enemy Alien shares unpublished photos and a memoir by the artist about his life working alongside activist movements and in vibrant communities, from the civil rights–era American South to the Powell Street Festival in Vancouver.

The jury’s statement:

A great number of the books submitted for consideration for the Roderick Haig-Brown Prize this year are reflected in the shortlisted titles. The themes that emerge provide a greater understanding of the people of the region by telling often overlooked stories, especially the stories of individual Indigenous, Japanese Canadians, Afro Latine, and Chinese Canadians.

Enemy Alien: Tamio Wakayama not only gives voice to a previously unheralded artist and activist, but surrounds his heretofore unpublished memoir Soul on Rice, with his remarkable and evocative artistic output: images captured with his camera. Born in New Westminster, Wakayama and his family were forcibly relocated to an internment camp during the Second World War. How this region shaped and inspired Wakayama can be felt throughout the book. The internment experience leads to his finding common cause with the Civil Rights movement in the American South, working as a photographer with SNCC, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.

Later when he returns to Canada, he brandishes his camera to document Indigenous and Doukhobor communities throughout the country, and as he returns to Vancouver, he continues to actively participate in the Nikkei community with tireless efforts in the Redress Movement, and the establishment of Vancouver’s Powell Street Festival.

This book, edited by Paul Wong, and published by the Vancouver Art Gallery and Figure 1, honours the life and work of an artist and activist who adds to the understanding of this region.”

Congratulations to all finalists and winners! View the complete list here.