Patti Fraser has made the 2022 CBC Nonfiction Prize longlist for The Thin Blue Line.

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.

Patti Fraser is currently writing an ecological memoir of northern British Columbia. Her work as a theatre artist began in response to the AIDS epidemic of the 1990's. Since then, she has worked with many communities and organizations including the Canadian Council for Refugees and the International Red Cross. In 2007 she co-founded the Housing Matters Media Project collaborating with youth on housing justice. In 2013, she was awarded the Vancouver Mayor's Art Award for Community Engaged Art. She has written for radio, theatre and documentaries. Fraser lives in east Vancouver on unceded Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh land.

"Old growth, granddaughter, arrests, grandmother."

"Love, wonder, fear and anger inspire this story. Of deadly heat domes and wildfires, of dark skies breathing smoke, of biblical rainfalls and flooding waters. A year in the life of living in British Columbia in 2021 inspires this story. And anger. Anger at discovering the extent of the brutal enforcement methods inflicted on peaceful environmental protest by special units of militarized RCMP. Although these methods of enforcement having been ruled as substantial and serious infringements of civil liberties it continues. Hidden from public view.

"Wonder inspires this story. Wonder at the vast intelligence and wisdom of ancient forests and their mother trees. Awed by how little we know in the ways these oldest trees serve as the matrix of protection, communication and nurture of the young. Wonder at the great mystery of it all. And love. Love for a granddaughter. Love for all the grandchildren and all the children caught in the throes of this chaos. And love for all the rest of us, protesters and officers alike, caught on the line between order and chaos.

"A grandmother's imperfect love for our shared world inspires this story."

The photo appeared when the crows were making their evening way across the rose grey sky. Their usual noisy ritual strangely quiet this evening. Another forest fire. In the photo a police officer is tearing the mask off the face of a young woman. The camera catches her wild-eyed. He has grabbed her with his other arm and locked her in a terrible embrace face to face.

I know her.

I know her as a child holding a makeshift wand to the sunlit sky. Dancing fairy clad in the shadows of my back yard. As a fierce hug goodbye. As a child in red pyjamas waiting for a story. It's my granddaughter who is held in this officer's grip

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.