CBC Literary Awards name winners
CBC News | Posted: March 24, 2011 2:50 PM | Last Updated: March 24, 2011
Stories about a sibling's addiction, escape from an abusive home and a woman's slow realization of her father's suicidal intentions are among the dark tales to win the 2011 CBC Literary Awards.
CBC Host Shelagh Rogers unveiled the six English-language winners of the annual honour to collegue Jian Ghomeshi on CBC Radio's Q Thursday morning.
Two English-language winners — first and second place — were chosen in three categories: creative nonfiction, poetry and short story.
Vancouver writers
A pair of Vancouver writers triumphed in the creative nonfiction category, with Gina Leola Woolsey nabbing the first place spot for her tale My Best Friend.
The poignant, decades-spanning tale offers a glimpse into her relationship with her drug-addicted brother. Woolsey, who studied creative writing at the University of British Columbia, is working on a full-length memoir.
Placing second is fellow Vancouver author Leslie Beckmann for Tortfeasor, in which a bright young girl plots her flight from an abusive stepfather. A biologist, essayist and short fiction writer, Beckmann's debut novel, The Sum of All Evils, was published earlier this month.
Established writers prevailed in the poetry category. Poet, novelist and former journalist Brian Brett of Salt Spring Island, B.C. won for To Your Scattered Bodies Go and poet and University of Regina professor Gerald Hill was second for Natural Cause.
The top spot in the short story category went to the melancholy tale, Snapshots from My Father's Euthanasia Road Trip, or, Esau by London, Ont., writer Meghan Adams. In the moving story, a young woman is lured into an impromptu trek with her father, gradually realizing his ominous intentions at their final destination.
Adams, who is studying at the University of Toronto under author Jane Urquhart, is working on her first short story collection, as is the category's second-place winner, Toronto writer Corinne Stikeman (recognized for Birds That Streak the Sky ).
The English-language jury included authors Don Gillmor, Charlotte Gray, Michael Crummey, Madeleine Thien and poet Motion.
Francophone winners
The French-language winners are:
Creative nonfiction:
- Elle en moi by Monique Letarte (Gatineau, Que.)
- Brin de nid by Monique Pariseau (St-Hippolyte, Que.)
Poetry:
- Chants d'un autres siècle by Alain-Bernard Marchand (Ottawa).
- Dans le noir by Dominic Gagné (Québec City)
Short Story:
- Le cas Makosso by Isidore Guy Makaya (Montreal).
- Le Jourdain ou la rivière de la Peine by Luc Lamarre (Montreal).
All 12 winners (English and French) will be celebrated at a Montreal gala Thursday night and their entries published in enRoute magazine, a presenting partner of the CBC Literary Awards along with the Canada Council for the Arts.
First-place winners in each category receive $6,000, while $4,000 will be awarded to those in second place. The CBC Literary Awards were established to celebrate unpublished Canadian writing, with Michael Ondaatje, Carol Shields and Susan Musgrave among past winners of the competition.