Amanda Swinimer finalist for the City of Victoria Butler Book Prize
Amanda Swinimer has been announced as a finalist for the City of Victoria Butler Book Prize for her book, The Science and Spirit of Seaweed: Discovering Food, Medicine and Purpose in the Kelp Forests of the Pacific Northwest (Harbour Publishing, $28.95). The Prize considers Greater Victoria authors for books published in the categories of fiction, non-fiction or poetry and the winner will be announced at an in-person gala on Wednesday, October 12.
The Science and Spirit of Seaweed: Discovering Food, Medicine and Purpose in the Kelp Forests of the Pacific Northwest describes the ecology, culinary uses, evidence-based health benefits and climate change-resisting potential of seaweed and shares highlights from Amanda Swinimer’s remarkable life beneath the waves.
Based in the Pacific Northwest, home to the greatest cold-water seaweed diversity in the world, Swinimer has made her living from the sustainable harvest of seaweeds for over two decades. In The Science and Spirit of Seaweed, she reflects on the journey that led to her successful seaweed harvesting business and provides identification information, ecologically sound harvesting techniques, traditional medicinal application and evidence-based health information for more than twenty varieties of seaweeds commonly found from California to Alaska. She also includes notes on culinary and skin-care uses for several types of seaweeds.
Amanda Swinimer lives on the west coast of Vancouver Island, BC, with her two daughters. She holds a bachelor of science degree from Dalhousie University with an advanced major in Marine Biology. She has her own business, Dakini Tidal Wilds, hand-harvesting wild seaweed from the beaches and kelp forests surrounding her home, and she presents on seaweeds to diverse audiences.
About the City of Victoria Butler Book Prize: The City of Victoria Butler Book Prize is a partnership between the City of Victoria and Brian Butler of Butler Brothers Supplies. With the generous help of committed volunteers and sponsors, the City of Victoria Butler Book Prize inaugural $5,000 prize was awarded in 2004 – created to acknowledge and celebrate an extraordinarily accomplished writing community and the readers who support them. Now in its 19th year, the prize is awarded to a Greater Victoria author for the best book published in the categories of fiction, non-fiction or poetry. The finalists are selected by an independent jury, comprised of representatives from the local literary arts community, from among books published between April 2021 and March 2022.