Gena Ellett has made the 2018 CBC Short Story Prize longlist for Moody Park.

Gena Ellett is originally from the Sunshine Coast, B.C. Her writing has appeared in literary magazines across North America including the Malahat Review, EVENT, Carte Blanche, Smart Set, Gulf Coast and Slice Magazine. She won the 2015 EVENT nonfiction contest, and was nominated for a 2016 National Magazine Award for personal journalism. She was chosen as an emerging writer for the 2018 RBC Taylor Prize mentorship program. Her piece of nonfiction, Heaven, was awarded the 2018 Charles Lillard Founders' Award for Creative Nonfiction. She lives and writes in Vancouver, B.C., where she is currently at work on a memoir.

How do we carry grief?

"The inspiration for this story came when I was living in New Westminster, B.C., and walking through Moody Park one night in late spring, before they'd filled the pool for summer. I had spent much of my early 20s grappling with various forms of grief, and I found the image of the empty pool against the bright sky to be both haunting and nostalgic in a way that reflected my own young memories of loss."

Two weeks after my older brother Brandon went missing, Sanjeet asked me to meet him at Moody Park. It was late spring, one of those nights where the lightness of the sky surprised everyone, like winter had turned over and exposed its pale belly after months of hibernation. I was too cold in my jean jacket, but I've never been one to admit even the smallest defeat, plus everyone was so optimistic then — an early spring after along winter.

The winner of the 2018 CBC Short Story Prize will receive $6,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts, will have their story published on CBC Books and will have the opportunity to attend a 10-day writing residency at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. Four finalists will each receive $1,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts and have their story published on CBC Books.