Author and artist Henry Tsang is the winner of the 2024 City of Vancouver Book Award for White Riot.
Since 1989, the award has recognized an author of merit in any genre who contributes to the appreciation of Vancouver’s history, unique character or residents.
Through pictures and essays, White Riot is a book that explores the social and political conditions that led to the anti-Asian riot in 1907 Vancouver.
Tsang, a teacher at Emily Carr University of Art and Design, based the book on the tour he created about this topic. 360 Riot Walk is a self-guided 360-degree video walking tour of Vancouver that visits the sites where rioters destroyed the shops and homes of Asian Canadians.
“A surprising number of people that were born here also don’t know the white nationalist and very racist history of, specifically, Vancouver, British Columbia — and overall, Canada,” said Tsang in an interview with CBC News about the tour in 2019.
The book features colourized images of the riots as well as what the area looks like in contemporary Vancouver, while touching on the issues the Chinese and Japanese communities face in current times.
White Riot was selected as the 2024 City of Vancouver Book Award winner by a jury of Vancouver writers: Dina Del Bucchia, Hari Alluri and Toke Adejoye.
“The best part about White Riot is how it effortlessly unearths a vital piece of Vancouver’s history which is now hidden within concrete and brick buildings and monuments scattered across Gastown, Chinatown, and the Downtown Eastside,” said Adejoye in an email.
“White Riot is a loud reminder that human society functions in a cyclical pattern of sorts; that we are always at risk of forgetting and repeating the mistakes and injustices of the past.
“But it is also a gentle, soothing voice that testifies to human resilience. It shows us that regardless of the times, the stories and experiences that shape a people can never be erased.”