Father's memoir wins B.C. book prize

Toronto journalist Ian Brown has won British Columbia's National Award for Canadian Non-Fiction, Canada's richest non-fiction prize.

Brown, a Globeand Mail writer,won for his moving story about life with his disabled sonThe Boy in the Moon: A Father's Search for His Disabled Son.

Brown was presented with the $40,000 prize in Vancouver on Friday.

The other finalists, each of whom won $2,000,were:

• Burmese Lessons: A Love Story byKaren Connelly.
• The Cello Suites: J.S. Bach, Pablo Casals, and the Search for a Baroque Masterpiece by Eric Siblin.
• The Uncrowned King: TheSensational Rise of William Randolph Hearst by Kenneth Whyte.

Brown and Whyte are also in the running for the Charles Taylor Prize for non-fiction, which will be awarded on Feb. 8.

The Boy in the Moon tells the story of Brown's son, Walker, who suffers a rare genetic condition that makes him unable to speak or eat.

Thebook undertakes "a journey into deeply touching and troubling territory" as Brown grapples with the question of what his son is trying to show him, the jury wrote in its citation.

Jury members were broadcaster Andreas Schroeder, TV and radio personality Vicki Gabereau and writer Philip Marchand.

The prize is sponsored by the B.C. Achievement Foundation.