Trent Lewis has made the 2020 CBC Short Story Prize longlist forThe Arms of Village.

The shortlist will be announced on April 15. The winner will be announced on April 22.

Trent Lewin writes fiction and occasionally, very bad poetry. Writing since the age of five, he's often wondered where this "hobby" will take him but eventually learned that this isn't a hobby at all — it's a lifelong passion. Despite a background and job in a highly technical field, he manages to squeeze writing into the dark hours of the day. His blog's tagline is "dream hard, rage hard," and he believes in the concept of never being boring (avoid boredom!) and never writing about what you know (because what do you really know, in the end?).

What really is a miracle?

"I can't honestly remember. I think the idea came in a flash, and it stayed in my head. I believe that any idea that persistently stays inside of you, coming back over and over, must be one that needs to come out. This story had built up inside of me so much that when I wrote it, it came out in a span of a couple of hours."

In a field of garbage, when you stoop to retrieve an aluminum can with your lips, you taste a little of what once was in there. EEEE remembers makeshift boots made of tape, and animals darting away. He remembers plastic bags full of alum, the lightest metal, and tracking out of the waste to the bus stop.

In a trading station, EEEE had made deals.

Om-LLLL had given him extra bits. "What for?" EEEE had asked.Om-LLLL was fat in the face. His massive lips had pursed, "For a good job, son."

One bit had been spent in the pub. Beer has its own taste, EEEE had realized, his nose in the foam, his head in space.

The next morning, he had ached everywhere: on the long road, on the decaying bridges, and through the thick streams.

The winner of the 2020 CBC Short Story Prize will receive $6,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts, have their work published on CBC Books and attend a two-week 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.