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The Next Breath by Shana Hugh

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 | Shana Hugh

Caption: Shana Hugh is a writer based in Vancouver. (Submitted by Shana Hugh)

Shana Hugh has made the 2024 CBC Nonfiction Prize longlist for The Next Breath.
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 Shana Hugh

Shana Hugh test-ran a writing job for a couple of years at a community paper in Mazatlán, Mexico, before fully diving into the world of journalism. While earning a Master of Journalism degree at the University of British Columbia, she learned how to 'make the facts dance' with a primer in creative non-fiction from legendary journalist and author Peter C. Newman. After 15 years in radio and television with CBC Vancouver, she dabbled in podcasting and plunged into parenthood, basement renovations and LEGO. She is currently re-discovering her love for the written word.

Entry in five-ish words

"Creating calm from calamity."

The story's source of inspiration

"I think this is the first experience I felt absolutely COMPELLED to write down. I've never written anything so quickly and without pause. You know how you hear about authors saying that 'the story wrote itself' — or came to them, fully composed, in a dream… and you think, 'well, that's ridiculous'. This was ridiculous. This story poured right out of me as if I was being forced to write it.
"Shortly after I returned home from the hospital, and once I was recovered enough to sit up, I just picked up my computer and started writing. I guess it was my way of sorting through the trauma of what happened during the artery bleed and trying to absorb how I got through each moment. Honestly, I think we can endure so much more than we think we can."

First lines

"Just get to the next breath."
That's what I recall thinking as the paramedics determined that I needed not a standard ambulance, but an Advanced Life Support unit.
"Just get to the next breath."
I repeated my new mantra, while I continued to lose what I've since learned was about one quarter of my body's blood.

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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