How Poetry Saved My Life: A Hustler’s Memoir wins 2013 Vancouver Book Award

VANCOUVER – A former sex-trade worker’s unflinching memoir of her life on the streetsand her metamorphosis to writer and activist is the winner of this year’s City of Vancouver Book Award.

“How Poetry Saved My Life: A Hustler’s Memoir” recounts a decade in the life of author Amber Dawn.

Published by Arsenal Pulp Press, the unconventional book explores her life in the sex trade, her experiences as a lesbian and her transformation through poetry and prose.

In a note posted on her website, Dawn says she accepts the award as a victory for other sex workers and survivors, and the “tenacious and dignified peoples of the Downtown Eastside.”

The four other titles shortlisted for the prize were “The Ballad of Mrs. Smith” by Jancis M. Andrews, “Inventing Stanley Park” by Sean Kheraj, “Ink on Paper” by Brad Cran and “Exploring Vancouver” by Harold Kalman and Robin Ward.

Dawn receives a cash prize of $2,000 with the award.