Lisa Ariemma has made the 2022 CBC Nonfiction Prize longlist for First Night on the Border.

The winner of the 2022 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. 15 and the winner will be announced on Sept. 22.

If you're interested in the CBC Literary Prizes, the 2023 CBC Short Story Prize is currently open for submissions until Oct. 31, 2022

A writer, researcher, educator and activist, Lisa Ariemma focuses on issues related to citizenship, democracy and migration. She has been published in the Toronto Star, CAMH Magazine, Guide de l'ingénierie, the Kingston Whig-Standard and more. She's also created courses on intercultural dialogue and multiculturalism. As an activist and independent researcher, she has participated in conferences and cultural festivals in Europe, North America and the Middle East and is co-president of the Maydan Association, which promotes the concept of Mediterranean citizenship through advocacy campaigns and other initiatives. She devotes volunteer hours assisting people in transit in border areas and advocates for refugee and migrant rights.

"Aspirations, borders, freedom of movement"

"The intensity of my personal experience and the desire to transmit and share it inspired me to express the encounter in words."

In the northwestern Alps close to the France-Italy border, near where the 2006 Winter Olympics took place, lies Susa Valley; a point of passage for millennia travelled by Celts, Saracens, Romans and, rumour has it, even Hannibal and his elephants. Over the last five years, the valley has become a popular point of passage for migrants and refugees wanting to reach France and other parts of Europe and the U.K. because the Ventimiglia route along the Mediterranean coast, between the Italian and French Riviera, has become increasingly militarized.

The winner of the 2022 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 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 2023 CBC Short Story Prize is currently open for submissions until Oct. 31, 2022. The 2023 CBC Nonfiction Prize will open in January 2023 and the 2023 CBC Poetry Prize will open in April 2023.