Avineet Cheema has made the 2018 CBC Poetry Prize longlist for Nanaji.

Avineet Kaur Cheema is a student-at-law in the field of poverty law and a writer. She is originally from St. John's, N.L., but is currently residing in Toronto. As the child of Panjabi immigrants, Avineet's work explores the South Asian diaspora, displacement and the significance of preserving ancestral histories.

Longing for a lost homeland.

"Because my mother was a single parent, much of my upbringing was by my grandfather — Nanaji — and grandmother — Nanima. My Nanaji was and will forever remain to be the single most significant and influential person in my life. He lived through the partition of India, the largest forced migration in history, and he has passed onto me struggle and loss, but also the immense resilience of my people. My Nanaji bestowed upon me a connection to a home that only now exists through bedtime stories and crinkled black-and-white photographs. I was provoked to share this poem because my grandfather was very unwell at the time it was written and passed away shortly afterwards. These words were a cathartic release of his legacy and my tribute to a beautiful spirit."

The winner of the 2018 CBC Poetry Prize will receive $6,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts, will have their work 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 work published on CBC Books.