Haley Steinberg has made the 2019 CBC Nonfiction Prize longlist for The Raffish Queen.

Haley Steinberg is a writer from Toronto. She moved to New York at 18 to study literature at New York University, and stayed for seven years. Haley received her MFA in literary nonfiction from Columbia University and subsequently taught writing at Bronx Community College. Her work seeks to examine broader sociological and humanitarian questions through studies of the individual and the personal. She is currently at work on an essay collection.

"Caregiving on the Upper East Side."

"I wanted to pay tribute to working women, particularly immigrant women who spend their days caring for people outside of their own families. What does emotional labour look like? How is it valued by society? How can we challenge the ideology of women as nurturers? The unflinching woman at the heart of this story — Nora — and our improbable friendship, are the inspiration."

Despite the various barriers to accessibility at 1088 Park Avenue, on Manhattan's East Side, from the private elevators to the affable doormen to the discerning resident population, the only real challenge is in getting past the eyes of a certain Ms. Nora Phinn. Although Nora presides over a single fourth-floor unit on the building's south tower, and not, ostensibly, the building in toto, she is well-known in this quarter of Carnegie Hill by the women and men and even some dogs who live and work in its vicinity.

The winner of the 2019 CBC Nonfiction Prize will receive $6,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts, have their work published on CBC Books and attend a two-week 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 work published on CBC Books.

The shortlist will be announced on Sept. 18, 2019. The winner will be announced on Sept. 25, 2019.