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A Quieter War by Batya Guarisma

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 | Batya Guarisma

Caption: Batya Guarisma is a writer born in Toronto and now living in Vaughan, Ont. (Justine Apple Photography)

Batya Guarisma has made the 2024 CBC Nonfiction Prize longlist for A Quieter War.
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 Batya Guarisma

Born in Toronto, Batya Guarisma studied painting and art history at York University, Central Technical School and the Toronto School of Art. She recently made an unexpected pivot into the legal world, graduating from Seneca's Law Clerk diploma program with high honours. A freelance academic writing job in 2021 brought her back to her other passion, creative writing. She has since published a short story, Eavesdropping, in the Lintusen Press anthology Small Shifts and won an Off Topic Publishing nonfiction contest with her piece Whiteout. She has also completed two manuscripts, her memoir and a dual timeline cozy mystery.

Entry in five-ish words

"Mayor's skating party turns dark."

The story's source of inspiration

"Skating has always been an escape from the heavier aspects of life for me, so when confronted with Israel-Palestine protests at Nathan Phillips Square that day, instead of finding a break, everything I had been ruminating over for months intensified. I was moved to write down what I had just experienced and to really think about the ways in which we dehumanize each other, not just on a global scale, but in these microscosm versions of global conflict."

First lines

The air is clear and cold. Evan and I jog across Queen Street, so we can hear the speech. Our skates jostle over our shoulders.
The mayor's voice leaves the speakers strong but trails off in its descent to the crowd.
"When I was a young girl, we had no money. My mother worked as a maid in that hotel …"

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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