Erin MacNair has made the 2018 CBC Nonfiction Prize longlist for Where Things Rise, Unannounced.

Erin MacNair is a writer and metalsmith based in North Vancouver, B.C. Her work has been published in the Walrus, Room and other literary journals and anthologies. She also won the 2016 Writers Adventure Camp fiction contest. She is currently working on a book of short stories and a graphic novel. She occasionally pens a blog, bent on bringing a bit of levity to the world.

Navigating the pitfalls of eco-anxiety.

"I'd been researching whales, and remembered the first whale recording I'd ever heard, on a thin black floppy record put out in National Geographic. I ordered it after some internet searching; I needed to hear it again. Music often brings me inspiration, and this kind of song certainly did."

"January 1979. I am a whale.

"'Bauurroooooooo,' I sing from the cold depths of the deep Pacific Ocean. My brothers and sisters call back to me in undulating and resonant tones. I answer them with a low moan. We sing about the places we have been, the friends we have made. About all we have seen with our colossal humpback eyes, large as dinner plates."

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