Little Boats by Yvonne Tang
CBC Books | Posted: September 7, 2023 1:30 PM | Last Updated: September 7, 2023
2023 CBC Nonfiction Prize longlist
Yvonne Tang has made the 2023 CBC Nonfiction Prize longlist for Little Boats. The shortlist will be announced on Sept. 14 and the winner will be announced on Sept. 21.
If you're interested in the CBC Literary Prizes, the 2024 CBC Short Story Prize is open for submissions until November 1st.
About Yvonne Tang
Born in South Viet Nam, Yvonne Yen Tang was one of thousands of young refugees who escaped by boat in the late 1970s, fleeing persecution by the Communist government of the North because of her Chinese ancestry. She survived and by luck managed to cheat death. Now retired, she worked as a medical researcher for the University of Alberta and in the Neuroscience Department for the University of Calgary. She is currently writing an autobiography, detailing her childhood in Viet Nam in a polygamous family, her escape by sea, the refugee camp in Malaysia and her arrival to Canada.
Entry in five-ish words
"The peril of little boats."
The story's source of inspiration
"Inspired by my extraordinary 105-year-old mother who was a young widow and alone she raised and led her young children through a 'tempest tossed' during the horrible wars and discrimination to find a home in a land of generosity and freedom."
First lines
A lifetime ago in a country half a world away from Canada, I used to live happily with my close-knit family in a lush tropical land. It was 1975 when my world came crashing down because of a terrible word: tử hình, which in Vietnamese means executions.
One day Mama came home from the supermarket, quivering, white as a ghost. Her voice was weak when she announced "they are going to shoot our soldiers. They are going to shoot our soldiers in the square!"
About the 2023 CBC Nonfiction Prize
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 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 2024 CBC Short Story Prize is currently open until Nov. 1, 2023 at 4:59 p.m. ET. The 2024 CBC Nonfiction Prize will open in January 2024 and the 2024 CBC Poetry Prize will open in April 2024.