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The Ferris Wheel by Julie M Green

CBC Books | Posted: September 12, 2024 1:59 PM | Last Updated: September 12

The Ontarian writer is on the 2024 CBC Nonfiction Prize longlist

Image | Julie M Green

Caption: Julie M Green is a writer currently living in Kingston, Ont. (Submitted by Julie M Green)

Julie M Green has made the 2024 CBC Nonfiction Prize longlist for The Ferris Wheel.
The winner of the 2024 CBC Nonfiction Prize will receive $6,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts(external link), a two-week writing residency at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity(external link) and have their work published on CBC Books(external link). The four remaining finalists will each receive $1,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts(external link) and have their work published on CBC Books(external link).
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(external link), 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 Julie M Green

Julie M Green's work has appeared in Washington Post, Globe and Mail, Chatelaine, Today's Parent and more. She is the author of a forthcoming memoir about her experiences as a late-diagnosed autistic woman (ECW Press, 2025). She writes The Autistic Mom on Substack. Born in Cornwall, Ont., Green studied creative writing at Concordia University. She spent 10 years in the UK before relocating to Toronto. She currently lives in Kingston, Ont., with her husband, teenager and bulldog. In her spare time, she runs a women's book club and volunteers at an arts centre for adults with developmental disabilities.

Entry in five-ish words

"Panic on the ferris wheel."

The story's source of inspiration

"I had all but forgotten about the time I took my autistic son on a ferris wheel. I had probably blocked it out, to be honest. Drafting that scene and others in my memoir propelled me back into stressful moments yet also granted me enough distance to process what happened. Writing is cheaper than therapy, they say — in which case I've saved a lot of money!"

First lines

Your mom sees it first — the giant wheel in the sky. Turning spokes. Swinging metal buckets. A mechanical flower. She suggests you all go on it. You will ride with Carson, and she will ride with his cousin who is visiting. He is four years older than your son. Too old for a lot of the rides here, to be fair. He could barely conceal his boredom on the teacups, but Carson is excited that he's in town. He's not used to having cousins around.

Image | CBC Nonfiction Prize

Caption: The 2024 CBC Nonfiction Prize shortlist will be announced on Sept. 19 and the winner will be announced on Sept. 26. (Ben Shannon/CBC)

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:

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