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Green For Home, Always by Theresa Harold

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

The Vancouver writer is on the 2024 CBC Nonfiction Prize longlist

Image | Theresa Harold

Caption: Theresa Harold is a Vancouver-based writer that was born in Hong Kong and grew up in the U.K. (Sachin Khona)

Theresa Harold has made the 2024 CBC Nonfiction Prize longlist for Green For Home, Always.
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 Theresa Harold

Born in Hong Kong, Theresa Harold grew up in the U.K. before moving to Vancouver in 2021. She holds a first-class degree in Creative Writing from Bath Spa University, England, where she won the Best Emerging Writer award. Her essay 'Rain Don't Go' was published in Untitled: Voices, an online journal for underrepresented writers, and she has performed her poem 'Compatible' on BBC radio. In 2023, she guest lectured for the University of British Columbia's 'Writing Climate Change' seminar and continues to mentor young women writers. Theresa is an alumna of the Vashon Artist Residency in the Pacific Northwest.

Entry in five-ish words

"Going home for a wedding."

The story's source of inspiration

"Vancouver reminds me of Hong Kong in so many ways — the glass towers, the food, the overheard snatches of Cantonese. Since the worsening political situation in Hong Kong, I'm not sure when or if I'll ever go back and so, the reminders are often bittersweet. I wanted to write about the last time I was home, and that moment of hope and possibility that was in the air. And also, how people carry on with their lives even in extraordinary moments. I didn't go home to join the student protests; I was home for the wedding of a dear cousin. But on that trip, I saw a Hong Kong I never thought I'd see."

First lines

The buses from the airport aren't running. There's rubble blocking the roads and nobody knows when anyone will clear it. A man in a crumpled suit barks into his phone, "They set fire to a police van last night," and leaves his opinion on that unspoken. It's not apparent if he's telling a loved one, or calling the office to explain why he's late.
Hong Kong International: a bastion of futuristic efficiency, with its shining glass and IMAX screens and hot drinking water dispensers. My hometown airport is a source of smugness. Usually.

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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