Katharine Cukier has made the 2018 CBC Nonfiction Prize longlist for The Routine.

Katharine Cukier lives in Montreal with her husband Eric and their two teenage children, Marguerite and Benjamin. French is spoken in the home. She works as a high school English teacher for the English Montreal School Board. Cukier was raised with two sisters in St. Catharines, Ont., by her mother Margaret and her grandparents, Harold and Sarah of Thornbury, Ont. Her father, George, was a Holocaust survivor and he died in 1966. At 19, she moved to Quebec to study at university. Her son Benjamin's autism has been a life-enriching challenge and a frequent subject of her writing.

Love and bruises on the spectrum.

"Our family had a very challenging year in 2017."

"I drive slowly into the weary suburb. My knuckle is shoved awkwardly against my chin while I gnaw on a fingernail. I'm unaware of the torn skin, the small trauma I've made in the cuticle. Only when my tongue is startled by the taste of blood, do I stop."

The winner of the 2018 CBC Nonfiction Prize will receive $6,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts, have their story published on CBC Books and attend a 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.