Patricia Young has made the 2023 CBC Poetry Prize longlist for Josephine, My Love.

The shortlist will be announced on Nov. 16 and the winner will be announced on Nov. 23.

Patricia Young has published 11 collections of poetry and one of short fiction, which won the inaugural Rooke/Metcalf Award published with Biblioasis. She has twice been nominated for the Governor General's Literary Award for poetry, twice received the Dorothy Livesay Award, won the Pat Lowther Award, the Bliss Carmen Award, Arc's Poem of the Year Award, the Confederation Poet's Prize and a National Magazine Award. She has twice been nominated for the Butler Prize. In 1988, Young placed 2nd for the CBC Poetry Prize. Both in 2009 and 2010, she appeared on the CBC Poetry Prize longlist twice. She was also longlisted for the 2012 CBC Poetry Prize. Most recently, Young was longlisted for the 2020 CBC Poetry Prize for The Bones.

"Girlhood, friendship, religious passion, love."

"My love for and friendship with Josephine was intertwined with my religious beliefs in the Jehovah's Witness faith, especially once she also became a believer."

The piano Josephine bought at the auction with babysitting money sounds more like a harpsichord. Today the tinkling notes stop. She stops. Mid-bar, she spins around on the stool. Paradise? You're kidding me, right? Her mother's drinking coffee at the kitchen table, a cloud of cigarette smoke wafting into the living room

The winner of the 2023 CBC Poetry Prize will receive $6,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts, a writing residency and have their work published on CBC Books. Four finalists will each receive $1,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts and have their work published on CBC Books.

If you're interested in the CBC Literary Prizes, the CBC Nonfiction Prize opens in January and the CBC Poetry Prize opens in April.