Victoria Abboud has made the 2022 CBC Nonfiction Prize longlist for Repairs.

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.

Victoria Abboud is a faculty member at Humber College and the University of Windsor. Her writing focuses on the complexities of migration and intergenerational trauma of lost homelands. Her work, Lineage, appeared in the Michigan Quarterly Review and her creative nonfiction story, Lessons, received first place in the 2021 Eden Mills Writers' Festival Fringe Contest. She holds BSc and Honours BA degrees from the University of Windsor and MA and PhD degrees from Wayne State University. Victoria has worked in Alberta, British Columbia, Michigan, Ontario and Minas Gerais, Brazil. Abboud is an avid gardener and aspiring qanun player in her hometown of Windsor, Ont.

"The trauma of diasporic longing."

"On August 4, 2020, over 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate exploded at the Port of Beirut, Lebanon. Over 200 people were killed, thousands were injured, and hundreds of thousands left homeless. While Lebanon had been suffering for years, this explosion exposed the horrors of the millions living there while the country experienced a financial crisis exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. At the time, I was struck by the heartbreak shared in the Lebanese diaspora all over the world while my father and I repaired small parts of my own home here in Canada. The dichotomy of the two would not leave me — I was compelled to try to express that confusion and sense of hopelessness."

"You have to make the right mix, dear," he says as he moves the trowel slowly, methodically, through the cement, water and sand. Under my patio umbrella in the warmth of the August sunshine, my father and I sit together, muse together and repair small parts of my home. This time, we focus on a portion of the front porch where the mortar has crumbled from the bricks. Over time, seasons and homeowners, the grains have given way. Each struggling to hold its place, but now recognizing its cycle is done. The movement of the sun and the moon — if given enough time — will cycle through all of us.

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 Jan. 2023 and the 2023 CBC Poetry Prize will open in April 2023.