Landfall by Izabela Wlodarczyk
CBC Books | | Posted: September 11, 2019 1:00 PM | Last Updated: September 11, 2019
2019 CBC Nonfiction Prize longlist
Izabela Wlodarczyk has made the 2019 CBC Nonfiction Prize longlist for Landfall.
About Izabela
Izabela Wlodarczyk moved to Toronto with her parents at the age of eight. She has since lived in Australia, South Africa, Indonesia, Mexico, Bolivia, New Zealand and Peru while employed as a researcher, content writer and communications specialist. Izabela has written articles for online and print magazines related to travel, international development, politics and pop culture. She is currently mapping out her first book while working as a copywriter for a tech company in Toronto.
Entry in five-ish words
"The love we take for granted."
The story's source of inspiration
"The typewriter in my parents' sunroom was always taunting me to tell this story but it was finding the pages of song lyrics that finally struck the right chord. It was emotional for me to see Madonna and Bryan Adams song lyrics neatly typed out in an attempt to learn English. Something that came so easily to me was a daily struggle for my parents. It reminded me that they struggled in ways that I could not appreciate at the time because… I just wasn't paying attention."
First lines
My mother sits at a typewriter my father bought at a used shop a few weeks ago. She is in her mid-30s with a big pregnant belly and learning English in our wood-panelled 90s basement apartment. It is summer, the basement is dark and cool. We moved in a few months ago. First Poland, then Germany, and now finally Canada, we are dazzled. Migrating together, crawling through countries one, two, three — coming out a bit rumpled on the other side, we need time to adjust to this new bright future my father has promised. I am seven years old.
About the 2019 CBC Nonfiction Prize
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.