Sumaiya Beshir has made the 2023 CBC Short Story Prize longlist for In My Mother's Eyes.

The winner of the 2023 CBC Short Story Prize will receive $6,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts, have their work published on CBC Books and win a two-week writing residency at Artscape Gibraltar Point. 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 April 12 and the winner will be announced on April 18.

If you're interested in the CBC Literary Prizes, the 2023 CBC Poetry Prize is open for submissions until May 31.

Sumaiya Beshir is a scriptwriter and content writer who has a BA in psychology with a minor in English and Communications from the University of Ottawa. She has written and compiled two books that are a collection of short stories. She currently resides in London, Ont. with her family.

"Heartbreak and gratitude can co-exist"

"Having worked with various refugee families over the years, I wanted to try to express the complex mix of emotions they feel when they make the very difficult decision to leave their home and start over somewhere new."

It isn't until late that afternoon that I am finally able to make it to over there. I pull up to the brown apartment block at the end of the road and park my car under the big oak tree, its leaves scattered into the road like a pot of milk that has boiled up and over. It is a squat little thing, the apartment building, shorter than I remember it being as a child. But then everything feels big and tall when you yourself are so small. My eyes scan the short building from top to bottom and I notice that all the apartment lights are on — except one.

The winner of the 2023 CBC Short Story 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 Artscape Gibraltar Point. 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 Poetry Prize is currently open until May 31, 2023 at 11:59 p.m. ET. The 2024 CBC Short Story Prize will open in September and the 2024 CBC Nonfiction Prize will open in January 2024.