The editors of a book that pulls together stories about the lives of women in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside — an area linked to poverty and drugs — have been presented the George Ryga Award.

In Plain Sight: Reflections on Life in Downtown Eastside Vancouver was edited by Leslie Robertson and Dara Culhane.

In Plain Sight: Reflections on Life in Downtown Eastside Vancouver is winner of the 2006 George Ryga Award for social awareness in literature

The award, presented Thursday evening in Vernon, B.C., is named for George Ryga, author of The Ecstasy of Rita Joe and an advocate for immigrants and First Nations peoples. It is given annually for social awareness in British Columbia writing.

Culhane says the book was an attempt to allow women living in the rundown district to tell their own stories.

"The book came out of a research project that started in 1999 called the Health and Home project," she told CBC Radio on Thursday.

"We were interviewing women and talking to women about the relationship between health and housing for women in the Downtown Eastside, and as we moved into that project and got to know some of the women, they talked often about wanting to publish their stories."

Eastside linked with poverty, drugs

The book tries to shed the stereotypes and stigma attached to living in the Eastside. 

"There isn't a simple story or standard profile of women of the Downtown Eastside," Culhane said.

"They come from very different histories and very different paths to where they are now. That's a lot of what I think the strength of the book is."

Culhane and Robertson interviewed some of the women, transcribed the tapes and reviewed them with the women.

One of the conditions Culhane and Robertson set with their publisher, Talonbooks, was that the women should tell the stories in their own words.

"They're not generally treated as writers, and storytellers and narrators in their own right. Once they reached a point where they felt they were satisfied with transcripts as they were, then we … said we're ready to talk to you and discuss anything that Leslie and I write — our introductions, etc. — but the stories as the women have told them have to stay exactly as they are."

Wants to draw readers

Culhane said she's happy about the award because of its potential to draw readers to the book.

But she isn't optimistic about improving the plight of the seven women, known by pseudonyms, who tell their stories.

"They still don't have access to housing. It's not rocket science to figure out that you can't live in Vancouver on $500 a month," she said.

"I'm despairing of the fact that a lot of the conditions that make their lives really, really difficult and put them at great risk are worsening."

CBC host Paul Grant presented the award, now in its third year, at Vernon's Powerhouse Theatre. The winners received The Censor's Golden Rope, a sculpture created by Armstrong sculptor Reg Kienast.

Two other books were shortlisted for the award; Stanley Park's Secret by Jean Barman and Vanishing British Columbia by Michael Kluckner.