Dawn Ruddick has made the 2021 CBC Nonfiction Prize longlist for The Pink Palace.

The winner of the 2021 CBC Nonfiction Prize will receive $6,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts, have their work published on CBC Books and have the opportunity to 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.

The shortlist will be announced on Sept. 22 and the winner will be announced on Sept. 29.

If you're interested in the CBC Literary Prizes, the 2022 CBC Short Story Prize is open for submissions until Oct. 31.

Dawn Ruddick is an elementary school principal. Born and partially raised in Newcastle Upon Tyne, England, she now lives in London, Ont. For many years, she was a high school English teacher, teaching creative writing, and was once interviewed to be a writing teacher at Oprah Winfrey's Leadership Academy in South Africa. She has been featured in several Canada Writes contests, published in the Globe and Mail and Canadian Living and wrote her master's thesis on the art of creative writing.

"Holding on and letting go."

"Sometimes things fall apart without any warning — on a seemingly ordinary day, in the middle of an ordinary life. My second son lost his hearing this way, and while doctors and his surgeon attempted to retrieve it, I frantically tried to hold on to what was already gone. I've always struggled with letting go of people, and this loss meant a letting go of the version of my son I'd known. It took a few years to fully accept the lesson that we must let go of the things not meant for us. When we let go, what is meant to be finds its way. When I stopped trying to lead, and just followed my son, we all found a way to move on."

The cabana boys are weaving through the grid of lounge chairs facing out toward the Gulf of Mexico. Striped towels and ice waters float into outstretched hands. You can see us, right there, closest to the water, a middle-aged mother and her three sons. We're huddled together, bent over a game of Spot It. Our voices like snapping turtles: Anchor! Dolphin! Beach-thingy! TOWEL! This game is carefully selected because it is all call, no answer.

These are my children; Noah, Jude and Charlie, respectively named for the ark, the song and the golden ticket. Theirs is the unmarred skin of childhood, but for freckles scattered across the bridge of each nose. Their still tousled, matted sleep-hair is a welcoming, perfect nest.

The winner of the 2021 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 2022 CBC Short Story Prize is currently open for submissions until Oct. 31, 2021. The 2022 CBC Nonfiction Prize will open in January and the 2022 CBC Poetry Prize will open in April.