Remembering Chaika by Sharon Chisvin

Image | Sharon Chisvin

Caption: Sharon Chisvin is a writer, journalist, editor and oral historian living in Winnipeg. (Marshall Carroll)

Sharon Chisvin has made the 2022 CBC Nonfiction Prize longlist for Remembering Chaika.
The winner of the 2022 CBC Nonfiction Prize will receive $6,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts(external link), have their work published on CBC Books(external link) and have the opportunity to attend a two-week writing residency at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity(external link). Four finalists will each receive $1,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts(external link) and have their work published on CBC Books(external link).
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.

About Sharon Chisvin

Sharon Chisvin is a journalist, editor, oral historian and fiction and creative nonfiction writer. She is a regular contributor to the Winnipeg Free Press, the author of the children's picture book, The Girl Who Cannot Eat Peanut Butter and the editor of the Write to Move anthology. She has been published in Prairie Fire Home Place 3, Under the Prairie Sky and Living Legacies, and once was a runner-up in the Toronto Star short story contest. A mother and grandmother, she is currently working on a novel and a couple of children's picture books.

Entry in five-ish words

"Who and how we remember."

The story's source of inspiration

"I recently got into the habit of recording my father as he sits and reminisces about his past. Many of his childhood memories have to do with his parents' generosity and open-door policy, and the stream of people who lived at his parents' home for varying lengths of time. One afternoon as he was listing those house guests, I remembered that I had in my possession a photo album that had belonged to one of them — the one who stayed the longest. That photo album, combined with my father's nostalgia, led me to think about who and what we remember and how the act of remembering helps to keep alive those who are gone."

First lines

I came across Chaika's photo album in the bottom drawer of an old dresser my parents kept in the unfinished basement of their two storey house. At the time I was cleaning and clearing out the house shortly after my mother's death, going through a 30-something year collection of clothing, kitchenware, photos, mementos and knick knacks in sad anticipation of my father selling our family home. I had been at it for days already, starting in the bedroom closets upstairs and slowly working my way through every room of the house.
I came across Chaika's photo album in the bottom drawer of an old dresser my parents kept in the unfinished basement of their two storey house.

About the 2022 CBC Nonfiction Prize

The winner of the 2022 CBC Nonfiction Prize will receive $6,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts(external link), have their work published on CBC Books(external link) and attend a two-week writing residency at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity(external link). Four finalists will each receive $1,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts(external link) and have their work published on CBC Books(external link).
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.