Quiz by Aaron Chan
CBC Books | Posted: September 12, 2024 1:59 PM | Last Updated: September 12
The Vancouver writer is on the 2024 CBC Nonfiction Prize longlist
Aaron Chan has made the 2024 CBC Nonfiction Prize longlist for Quiz.
The winner of the 2024 CBC Nonfiction Prize will receive $6,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts, a two-week writing residency at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity and have their work published on CBC Books. 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 Sept. 19 and the winner will be announced on Sept. 26.
If you're interested in the CBC Literary Prizes, the 2025 CBC Short Story Prize is open for submissions until Nov. 1. The 2025 CBC Nonfiction Prize will open in January and the 2025 CBC Poetry Prize will open in April.
About Aaron Chan
Aaron Chan is a writer born and raised on unceded Coast Salish territories (Vancouver). He holds a BFA from the University of British Columbia and an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of California Riverside. He is the author of the memoir This City Is a Minefield (Signal 8 Press) and the picture book The Broken Heart (Rocky Pond Books). His writing has been published in various literary magazines and journals. Aaron won subTerrain's Lush Triumphant Literary Award in Creative Non-Fiction and is the recipient of the L.M. and Marcia McQuern Endowed Graduate Award in Non-Fiction Writing.
Entry in five-ish words
"Could've, would've, should've: a hookup."
The story's source of inspiration
"As a gay Asian man, I experienced a lot of sexual racism and rejection over the years that warped my self-esteem, mental health, and mindset. It got to the point where in the rare event someone I found attractive liked me back, my insecurities and anxiety exploded. I wanted to show how these neuroses manifested before, during, and after a memorable hookup, and employing the form of a multiple choice quiz, highlight the questionable choices I made while presenting ones a more well-adjusted person might have made."
First lines
1. When a 22-year-old white gay jock appears on your Grindr grid, you
a. Pay no attention.
b. Check out his profile, then send a confident but casual message.
c. Recall the countless young white gays who rejected you because you're Asian. He's no different.
Check out the rest of the longlist
The longlist was selected from more than 1,400 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 composed of Michelle Good, Dan Werb and Christina Sharpe.
The complete longlist is:
- The Memory Tree by Laura Anderson (Victoria)
- The Sensibilities of Dogs by Antoinette Bekker (Medicine Hat, Alta.)
- The Swell That Follows by Bianca Bernstein (Montreal)
- On Not Knowing Cree by Ted Bishop (Edmonton)
- Awl by John Blackmore (Ottawa)
- My Father's Four Funerals by Lizz Bryce (Toronto)
- Quiz by Aaron Chan (Vancouver)
- Ice Safety Chart: Fragments by Aldona Dziedziejko (Rocky Mountain House, Alta.)
- The Archaeologist's Last Visit by Machenka Eriksen (Victoria)
- Teddys to Manhattan by Kelsey Gilchrist (Toronto)
- The Ferris Wheel by Julie M Green (Kingston, Ont.)
- A Quieter War by Batya Guarisma (Vaughan, Ont.)
- Green for Home, Always by Theresa Harold (Vancouver)
- All the King's Men by Paul Hetzler (Val-des-Monts, Que.)
- The Next Breath by Shana Hugh (Vancouver)
- Mitigoog Call Me Home by Tay Aly Jade (Winnipeg)
- Talking for a Living by Zilla Jones (Winnipeg)
- A Love Letter to the Super Tenant by Marianne Mandrukiak (Montreal)
- Senseless by Laura Mensinga (Stone Mills, Ont.)
- Glass Eyes by G. Robert Morrison (Montreal)
- Et Cetera, Etcetera, Etcetera by Maureen Ott (Ottawa)
- The Weight of the Crown by Deanna Patterson (Regina)
- Not in Their Names by Alison Pick (Toronto)
- Is Life a Tossed Salad? by Evelyn N. Pollock (Coldwater, Ont.)
- Ruth by Gordon Portman (Regina)
- Dad's the Word by Emi Sasagawa (Vancouver)
- Tomorrow, The Next Day, and the Day After That by Kelly S. Thompson (Colorado Springs, U.S.)
- The Weight of a Gaze by Salina Jane Vanderhorn (Deep River, Ont.)
- Random Acts of Walking or What An Australian Cockatoo Taught Me by Kelly Watt (Rockton, Ont.)
- Eyeball Tacos by Jessica Wegmann-Sanchez (Edmonton)