38 writers from across Canada make the 2023 CBC Nonfiction Prize longlist
CBC Books | Posted: September 7, 2023 1:30 PM | Last Updated: March 27
The winner will receive $6,000, a writing residency and have their work published on CBC Books
Thirty-eight writers from across Canada have been longlisted for the 2023 CBC Nonfiction Prize.
The complete list is:
- Performing Umrah: The Minor Pilgrimage by Herman Aamir (Saskatoon)
- Your Smell by Filomena Acosta (Milton, Ont.)
- The Monarch and the Matriarch by Tay Aly Jade (Ottawa)
- Good Morning Relatives by Arlea Ashcroft (Winnipeg)
- Reaching for Grace Through Guided Meditation by Laurie Bedard (St-Basile-le-Grand, Que.)
- Geometry of Meaning by Oleksandra Budna (Toronto)
- That Poor Girl by Finnian Burnett (Princeton, B.C.)
- It's not Me… It's You by Marites Carino (Montreal)
- Troublesome Tit by Susan Carpenter (Calgary)
- A Micmac Memoir by Krista Collier-Jarvis (Hackett's Cove, N.S.)
- Singing the Red Dress Song by Therese DesCamp (New Denver, B.C.)
- Ta'aruf by Saddal Diab (Montreal)
- Asylum by Line Dufour (Cap Santé, Que.)
- Cellophane by Stephanie Duong (Toronto)
- Escape to Kabul by Shams Erfan (Toronto)
- How to be a 25-year-old Girl by Megan Gallant (Maple Leaf, Ont.)
- Clocks by Adrienne Gruber (Bowen Island, B.C.)
- My Northern Outhouse by Libby Gunn (Gabriola Island, B.C.)
- Can't Fight the Ocean by Byron Hamel (Winnipeg)
- Free or Less by Lindsey Harrington (Dartmouth, N.S.)
- Language Matters by Carolyn Higgins (Fredericton)
- Leeward Lessons by Roxane Hudon (Fogo Island, N.L.)
- You're Going to Dance with Me by Michèle Irwin (Toronto)
- Survivor's Guilt by Gwen Lamont (Owen Sound, Ont.)
- Glossary for an Aswang by Louie Leyson (Surrey, B.C.)
- Dancing Under the Chemo Tree by Laurita Love (Penticton, B.C.)
- Environmental Services by Christine Lowther (Tofino, B.C.)
- Deaf Girl by Lauren McNamara (Niagara on the Lake, Ont.)
- Island Girl by Murgatroyd Monaghan (Ontario)
- Red Shoe by Marina Nemat (Aurora, Ont.)
- Expectation by Jane Potter (Victoria)
- Black Diamond by Barbara Joan Scott (Calgary)
- kisâkihitin by Crystal Semaganis (Temagami, Ont.)
- I am Alice by Alice Switocz Goldbloom (Montreal)
- Little Boats by Yvonne Tang (Surrey, B.C.)
- Missing and Presumed Drowned by Alister Thomas (Toronto)
- The Edge of Change by Kelly S. Thompson (Colorado Springs, Colorado)
- Paper Nautilus by Christine Wunderli (St. John's)
The longlist was selected from more than 2,000 submissions. The longlist was selected by a team of writers and editors from across Canada.
The jury selects the shortlist and the eventual winner from the readers' longlisted selections. This year's jury is comprised of Eternity Martis, David A. Robertson and Merilyn Simonds.
The shortlist will be announced on Sept. 14 and the winner will be announced on Sept. 21.
The winner of the 2023 CBC Nonfiction Prize will receive $6,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts, have their work published on CBC Books and will 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.
Last year's winner was B.C. writer Susan Cormier for her essay Advice to a New Beekeeper. You can read the entire 2023 shortlist here.
The longlist for the French-language competition has also been revealed. To read more, go to the Prix du récit Radio-Canada.
The CBC Literary Prizes have been recognizing Canadian writers since 1979. Past winners include David Bergen, Michael Ondaatje, Carol Shields and Michael Winter.
If you're interested in other writing competitions, check out the CBC Literary Prizes. The 2024 CBC Short Story Prize is currently accepting submissions. The 2024 CBC Nonfiction Prize will open in January and the 2024 CBC Poetry Prize will open in April.