The 29 finalists in the 2025 Banff Mountain Book Competition have been unveiled. Now in its 50th year, the festival showcases books in eight categories, all centered on\u00a0mountain culture and adventure.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This year, the prescreening committee read 142 submitted works from authors in 11 countries in the following categories: Mountain Literature (non-fiction), Mountain Fiction and Poetry, Mountain Image, Guidebooks, Mountain Article, Environmental Literature, Adventure Travel, and Climbing Literature. <\/p>\n
The winner of each category will win a $3,000 prize, and the overall Grand Prize winner will walk away with $5,000. Any book that includes climbing will also be judged in the Climbing Literature category.<\/p>\n
The winner of each category will be announced on October 16.\u00a0 One of them will then claim the Grand Prize on November 6 during the Festival itself. The 2025 Book Competition jury members are David Chambre (France), Paul Scully (UK), and Kate Neville (Canada).<\/p>\n
Among the\u00a0nonfiction selections is Vineeta Muni\u2019s\u00a0Across the Himalaya, a deeply personal recollection of Muni\u2019s 4,500km journey across the Himalaya with seven other Indian women in 1997, led by Bachendri Pal. Mike Bell\u2019s 5.7 Haikus for the Climber is one of three finalists in the Mountain Fiction and Poetry category. It contains 350 haikus about everything climbing and outdoors.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In Adventure Travel, Jeremy Collins\u2019s\u00a0Eventually a Sequoia is part travel, part sketch book. It contains many stories from the people he has met while traveling through some of the most remote and endangered areas on Earth. <\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the Mountain Image finalists include Patagonia National Park: Chile, created by Kristine McDivitt Tompkins, Michelle Bachelet, and Yvon Chouinard \u2014 a visual tribute to one of the world\u2019s great conservation success stories.<\/p>\n
A Woman Among Wolves by Diane K. Boyd, in the Environmental Literature category, tells the story of her pioneering work studying wolves in Montana. At the time, she was the only female biologist in the U.S. studying wild wolves.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In the Guidebook category, New Horizons by Will Herman details some of the most stunning running routes across the Scottish Highlands.\u00a0<\/p>\n
All of this year\u2019s finalists are listed below (in alphabetical order within their categories).<\/p>\n
Mountain Literature (non-fiction) \u2013 The Jon Whyte Award <\/p>\n
Sponsored by The Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies<\/p>\n
Across the Himalaya \u2013 Vineeta Muni, Neemtree Tech Labs Pvt Ltd (India, 2025)<\/p>\n
Enough: Climbing Toward a True Self on Mount Everest \u2013 Melissa Arnot Reid, The Crown Publishing Group (U.S., 2025)<\/p>\n
Human Nature: A Walking History of the Himalayan Landscape \u2013 Thomas Bell, Penguin Random House India (India, 2024)<\/p>\n
Moving the Needle \u2013 Dave MacLeod, Rare Breed Productions (UK, 2024)<\/p>\n
Thirty Below: The Harrowing and Heroic Story of the First All-Women\u2019s Ascent of Denali \u2013 Cassidy Randall, Abrams (U.S., 2025)<\/p>\n
Mountain Fiction & Poetry<\/p>\n
Sponsored by the Town of Banff<\/p>\n
5.7 | Haikus for the Climber \u2013 Mike Brown, Boreal Forest Books (Canada, 2024)<\/p>\n
An Abundance of Wild Roses \u2013 Feryal Ali-Gauhar, Canongate (UK, 2024)<\/p>\n
The Empty Rope \u2013 Dunstan Power, Black Pear Press Limited (UK, 2024)<\/p>\n
Environmental Literature<\/p>\n
Sponsored by Rab<\/p>\n
A Woman Among Wolves \u2013 Diane K. Boyd, Greystone Books (Canada, 2024)<\/p>\n
Is a River Alive? \u2013 Robert Macfarlane, W. W. Norton & Company (U.S., 2025)<\/p>\n
Latitudes: Encounters with a Changing Planet \u2013 Jean McNeil, Barbican Press (UK, 2025)<\/p>\n
The Wild Dark: Finding the Night Sky in the Age of Light \u2013 Craig Childs, Torrey House Press (U.S., 2025)<\/p>\n
Travels Up the Creek: A Biologist\u2019s Search for a Paddle \u2013 Lorne Fitch, Rocky Mountain Books (Canada, 2024)<\/p>\n
Adventure Travel<\/p>\n
Sponsored by Rocky Mountain Books<\/p>\n
Eventually a Sequoia \u2013 Jeremy Collins, Mountaineers Books (U.S., 2025)<\/p>\n
Into the Thaw: Witnessing Wonder Amid the Arctic Climate Crisis \u2013 Jon Waterman, Patagonia Books (U.S., 2024)<\/p>\n
Realm of Ice and Sky: Triumph, Tragedy, and History\u2019s Greatest Arctic Rescue \u2013 Buddy Levy, St. Martin\u2019s Press (U.S., 2025)<\/p>\n
River Songs: Moments of Wild Wonder in Fly Fishing \u2013 Steve Duda, Mountaineers Books (U.S., 2024)<\/p>\n
Mountain Image<\/p>\n
Sponsored by Mountain Life<\/p>\n
All Humans Outside: Stories of Belonging in Nature \u2013 Tommy Corey, Mountaineers Books (U.S., 2025)<\/p>\n
Eden: A Portrait of Mountain Biking in Aotearoa New Zealand \u2013 Nick Stevenson, Thames & Hudson Australia (Aotearoa New Zealand, 2025)<\/p>\n
Patagonia National Park: Chile \u2013 Kristine McDivitt Tompkins, Michelle Bachelet & Yvon Chouinard, Patagonia Books (U.S., 2024)<\/p>\n
Guidebooks<\/p>\n
Sponsored by the Association of Canadian Mountain Guides<\/p>\n
Boulder Canyon Rock Climbs \u2013 Topher Donahue, Wolverine Publishing (U.S., 2024)<\/p>\n
Northern Horizons \u2013 Will Herman, Scottish Mountaineering Press (UK, 2025)<\/p>\n
So\u010da from Source to Sea \u2013 Paddling Guidebook \u2013 Rok Rozman, Leeway Collective (Slovenia, 2024)<\/p>\n
Southern Faces: An Introduction to Rock Climbing in \u014ctepoti Dunedin \u2013 Riley Smith, WildLab (New Zealand, 2025)<\/p>\n
Mountain Article<\/p>\n
Sponsored by The Lodge at Bow Lake<\/p>\n
Behind the Curtain \u2013 Corey Buhay, Summit Journal (U.S., 2025)<\/p>\n
Fleet-Winged Ghosts of Greenland \u2013 Carolien Van Hemert, Hakai Magazine\/BioGraphic (U.S., 2024)<\/p>\n
In the Shadow of the Mountain \u2013 Natalie Berry, The Fence (UK, 2024)<\/p>\n
Something Lost Behind the Ranges \u2013 Michael Wejchert, Summit Journal (U.S., 2025)<\/p>\n
Writing Like a Mountain: Climbing Literature in the Anthropocene \u2013 Katie Ives, The Himalayan Club (India, 2025)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 29 finalists in the 2025 Banff Mountain Book Competition have been unveiled. Now in its 50th year,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28642,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[24888,412,146,85,46,24889],"class_list":["post-28641","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-books","tag-adventure-travel","tag-books","tag-entertainment","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-mountaineering"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28641","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28641"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28641\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28642"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28641"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28641"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28641"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}