Anukriti Mishra has made the 2020 CBC Nonfiction Prize longlist for Migrating Birds.

The winner will receive $6,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts, attend a two-week writing residency at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity and will have their work published by CBC Books.

Four finalists will receive $1,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts and will have their work published by CBC Books.

The shortlist will be announced on Sept. 24. The winner will be announced on Oct. 1.

Anukriti Mishra was born and raised in a small town in Northeast India. She began training in Indian classical dancing at the age of five and fell in love with storytelling. Her short stories have appeared in literary journals in the U.K., the Netherlands, South Africa and the U.S. She has a masters degree in creative writing from Kingston University in London. She lives in Toronto and is currently at work on her first manuscript.

"The ephemeral nature of belonging."

"A voice note from my mother in India with the sound of birds in the background. I heard it while I was on a wintery walk by the lakeshore and it called to mind the nature of leaving and arriving, of home and belonging, of our varied migratory patterns and the universality of nostalgia and hope."

The man behind the counter is wearing glasses that are smudged and resting low on his shiny pink nose. Behind him, the bright lights of Toronto Pearson terminal three make any notion of night or day incomprehensible.

The man looks at me for a few seconds and I wonder what he can see through his smudgy glasses. Before looking into my passport he shakes his head then looks up at me again.

"Today is your lucky day." His face betrays no emotion. He pauses, looks behind him, and then adds, "India, huh? Crazy slums everywhere, but you got out. So how does it feel?"

I stand motionless. How do I feel? Jet lagged, tired and hungry.

The winner of the 2020 CBC Nonfiction 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 the 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.

The 2021 CBC Short Story Prize is currently open for submissions. The 2021 CBC Nonfiction Prize will open in January. The 2021 CBC Poetry Prize will open in April.