Outpour by Lauren McNeil
CBC Books | Posted: April 11, 2024 1:30 PM | Last Updated: April 11
The Revelstoke, B.C. writer is on the 2024 CBC Short Story Prize longlist
Lauren McNeil has made the 2024 CBC Short Story Prize longlist for Outpour.
The winner of the 2024 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 Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. The four remaining 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 18 and the winner will be announced on April 25.
If you're interested in the CBC Literary Prizes, the 2024 CBC Poetry Prize is open for submissions until June 1. The 2025 CBC Short Story Prize will open in September and the 2025 CBC Nonfiction Prize will open in January.
About Lauren McNeil
Lauren McNeil is a writer and journalist living in Revelstoke, B.C. She began taking her call to write seriously in 2021 when she completed a diploma in creative writing from Humber College. She has been previously published by the Globe & Mail. This is her first major accolade in creative writing.
Entry in five-ish words
"A reckoning of one's authenticity."
The story's source of inspiration
"It's hard to say because I didn't outline this story. I just let whatever needed to come out, come out. However, I have long been interested in how the patriarchy influences our sense of self and have been particularly interested in what is known as 'comphet' (compulsory heterosexuality). I discovered this theory via an unhealthy addiction to TikTok during the pandemic. What emerged was a fascination with the idea that individuals can have entire other identities buried deeply within themselves, and the identities that they have been presenting to society were influenced by patriarchal constraints."
First lines
An ordinary Sunday. A hike and coffee with friends. Or so I thought. Mara texted that she had invited a friend from work, Aoife (pronounced Ee-Fah). They had just moved to Halifax from Ireland. The other girls responded with smiley faces and the "more the merrier" sort of messages. I sent a GIF of a crew of ladies excited to hike. A new friend, great. What I didn't realize was the strife of existential confusion that would follow me all the way down Duncan's Cove hike and beyond.
Check out the rest of the longlist
The longlist was selected from more than 1,900 submissions. A team of 12 writers and editors from across Canada compiled the list.
The jury selects the shortlist and the eventual winner from the readers' longlisted selections. This year's jury is comprised of Suzette Mayr, Kevin Chong and Ashley Audrain.
The complete longlist is:
- The White Stetson Hat by Dennis Allen (Edmonton)
- Leave A Funny Message at the Beep by Vincent Anioke (Waterloo, Ont.)
- How Far Should You Go? by Anne Baldo (Windsor, Ont.)
- Kind Lady Lives Here by Jennifer Booth (Cambridge, Ont.)
- A Very Full Life by Rebecca Cuneo Keenan (Toronto)
- Four-Boot Fred by Izzy Ferguson (Dundas, Ont.)
- The Sea Comes Pouring In by Phil Glennie (London, Ont.)
- We Asked Too Much From God by Marian Godfrey (Victoria)
- Old Bones by Kate Gunn (Vancouver)
- dark by Mirabelle Chiderah Harris-Eze (Calgary)
- Lamentations by Miriam Ho Nga Wai (Toronto)
- Tremor of the Tongue by Nnamdi Ibeanusi (Kitchener, Ont.)
- How to Make a Friend by Zilla Jones (Winnipeg)
- Shopping by Delailah M. K. Grondin (Windsor, Ont.)
- Tiny Gifts by Vivian (Xiao Wen) Li (Toronto)
- Best by Annick MacAskill (Halifax)
- Transcendence by Britt MacKenzie-Dale (Kelowna, B.C.)
- Outpour by Lauren McNeil (Revelstoke, B.C.)
- The Ball Game by Adam McPhee (Fort McMurray, Alta.)
- Fish Sauce by Alexandra Musten (Ottawa)
- Tamago by Lindsay Naito (North Vancouver, B.C.)
- the worst has already happened by KM Naud (Vancouver)
- A Good Visit by Susan Paddon (Margaree, N.S.)
- Fermentation by June Pyo Park (Montreal)
- The Green Guest House by Mina Sharif (Toronto)
- How to Give Your Grief to the Moon by Traci Skuce (Courtenay, B.C.)
- Disprin by Kailash Srinivasan (North Vancouver, B.C.)
- The Baby by Kailash Srinivasan (North Vancouver, B.C.)
- Smack Dab by D.D.R.Staines (Cambridge, Ont.)
- Permission to Pause by Carley Thorne (Toronto)