Jenny MacDougall has made the 2023 CBC Short Story Prize longlist for Inventory.

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.

Jenny MacDougall is a psycho-spiritual therapist living in Halifax. She holds degrees from Acadia University, Atlantic School of Theology and Martin Luther University College. She has been previously recognized for her work by the Writer's Federation of Nova Scotia's Atlantic Writing competition, shortlisted for the Budge Wilson Short Fiction Prize, a recipient of the Nova Scotia Department of Tourism and Culture individual grant for the Arts, and is a former shortlisted finalist for the 2008 CBC Poetry Prize. After a dizzying hiatus (chock-full of academia), Jenny has returned to her "first love" — creativity — and is happily reengaging her writing life.

"Prophets and angels surround us."

"This story partially emerged out of contemplating everyday characters who enthral and mystify us; who possess an ability to unveil important truths, signify dead-ends, and/or reignite forgotten fires. The gathering in this story aims to be a lens on subterfuge and over-exposure, understated presence and intuitive grace.

"Having read and studied her stories for decades, I bow to the gifts of Alice Munro, especially her ability to reveal the extraordinary within the ordinary. She is my brilliant muse and her body of work is my biggest inspiration."

On the drive from Bridgetown to the dinner party, Duncan, at first, had made half-hearted attempts to puncture the silence with cursory questions; what exit to take, what time the sitter had to be home, what they should get at the wine store. But Sabine's brief, disinterested responses — while she alternated between flipping the visor down to powder her face, or picking up her cell to check her messages — discouraged him. From time to time he would glance at her, but she kept her head up or down as the activity necessitated, so they mostly drove along the coastal town in silence, Duncan breathing in the beach that stretched along Miller road, admiring the weathered barns in the distance, venerating the odd road-side burst of magenta lupines.

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.