British Columbia author Yasuko Thanh has won this year’s Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize.

The 45 year old Victoria took home the 25-thousand-dollar award for her debut novel “`Mysterious Fragrance of the Yellow Mountains.”  The book is set in historical Vietnam, and Thanh says she was inspired by tales from her own family.

Meanwhile, Veteran Vancouver journalist and author Deborah Campbell was awarded the $60,000 Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction.

Campbell won for for “A Disappearance in Damascus: A Story of Friendship and Survival in the Shadow of War.”

The prizes were handed out last night in Toronto.