CBC Literary Prize winners get a writing residency — Chanel M. Sutherland shares how it's life-changing
CBC Books | Posted: February 23, 2023 3:47 PM | Last Updated: January 3
The 2024 CBC Nonfiction Prize is open for submissions until Mar. 1, 2024
Chanel M. Sutherland is a two-time CBC Literary Prize winner. She first won the 2021 CBC Nonfiction Prize for her essay, Umbrella. Then in 2022, she won the CBC Short Story Prize for her story Beneath the Softness of Snow.
The 2024 CBC Nonfiction Prize is currently open for submissions! You can submit original, unpublished nonfiction that is up to 2,000 words. Nonfiction includes memoir, biography, humour writing, essay (including personal essay), travel writing and feature articles. The deadline to submit is Mar. 1, 2024 at 4:59 p.m. ET.
The winner will receive $6,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts, a two-week writing residency at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity and have their work published on CBC Books.
Sutherland wrote about her writing residency and why such experiences are important for writers.
I have never before given myself permission to say, "I am a writer." Although it's been a lifelong dream that followed me, more present than my shadow, whenever someone asked, "What do you do?" the word "writer" always felt heavy on the tongue — or worse — like it didn't belong to me.
That was until I won the 2021 CBC Nonfiction Prize.
Before that fateful day in October 2021, when CBC Books announced me as the winner for my narrative essay Umbrella, I wrote during the in-betweens of life — on the bus, subway, during sleepless nights. There was never enough space or time in the day to sit down and commit to writing, so it became what I did on the side. A hobby, if you will.
Of course, I'd never considered what it would be like to have that space and time. Life required every nanometer, every nanosecond I had to give.
Then I won the CBC Nonfiction Prize, and everything changed. Suddenly, I could not only dream the writer's dream, but as part of the prize, I got to live it for two weeks in one of the most scenic places in the world: Banff, Canada.
A writing residency was a foreign concept for me. I had no idea what to expect and, more pressing, what was expected of me.
Upon visiting the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity website, I was promised "an inspiring space and focused time," which sounded great. But when I arrived in Banff in May 2022, I realized that a writing residency was so much more than I could have imagined.
Let me tell you why.
You'll find a community
As much as a residency is about your individual practice, it can also be about building your writing community. I arrived in Banff with a detailed day-to-day plan to maximize my two weeks. My goal was to put my head down and write, write, write. However, there's an energy in a place like Banff, where artists go to be artists.
Before I knew it, I'd become part of a community of writers who to this day continue to inspire and support me.
Within a few hours, established and emerging writers gravitated toward each other. We ate together and spoke about our art. We met around the bonfire to read poetry surrounded by majestic mountains. We shared our projects for feedback. Before I knew it, I'd become part of a community of writers who to this day continue to inspire and support me.
A room of your own
I have often underestimated how important space is to get the creative juices to flow. Thankfully, the folks at Banff did not. The Leighton artists' studios are each beautifully and distinctly designed for different disciplines. During my residency in May, I had the pleasure of writing in the Henriquez Studio, a decommissioned fishing boat named "Elsie K." Imagine sitting at a writing desk, on a boat, in the middle of a forest, surrounded by all the beauty of nature. You get the impression that every bit of space was designed to make your "muse" sing.
You'll develop a lifelong practice
To be a writer, you must develop good habits and regular practice. My writing residency helped me build up my routine by offering unimpeded time. Without everyday distractions, I became more self-aware as a writer. I got to live it for 14 days, and each day I was offered another opportunity to figure out and fine-tune what worked and didn't work for me.
You'll combat impostor syndrome
Even after winning the 2021 CBC Nonfiction Prize, I still felt like a fraud. My May residency helped reduce that feeling by giving me two weeks off from my regular responsibilities to be a writer. In Banff, I felt myself become more comfortable with the words "I'm a writer" when someone asked, "What do you do?" And the incredible thing is that I meant it.
I felt myself become more comfortable with the words "I'm a writer" when someone asked what do you do?
In this way, my writing residency offered so much more than space and time. It was an opportunity to completely immerse myself into my craft. To press pause on everything else and sit with my stories. In other words, it allowed me to just be the one thing I've always wanted — a writer.
I was lucky enough to return to Banff in October 2022 when I won the 2022 CBC Short Story Prize. Both residencies were terrific, and I left each feeling more confident as a writer than I did before.