Glass Eyes by G. Robert Morrison
CBC Books | Posted: September 12, 2024 1:59 PM | Last Updated: September 12
The Montreal writer is on the 2024 CBC Nonfiction Prize longlist
G. Robert Morrison has made the 2024 CBC Nonfiction Prize longlist for Glass Eyes.
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 G. Robert Morrison
G. Robert Morrison was born and raised in Montreal. Publications include The Antigonish Review, the Scholastic anthology Stories of Teaching, serial publication in Language Arts, and a book, To Pause and Flutterby, which chronicles his experiences from Kindergarten through Teacher's College. The latter has found its way into classrooms and he has often been invited to schools as a visiting author or to give workshops on memoir. He has published a book of poetry, My Lady; My Lake and has a poem, selected from a work in progress, Ancestors, to be published in the fall edition of The Dalhousie Review.
Entry in five-ish words
"My unforgettable, blind student Hal."
The story's source of inspiration
"I am often struck with the memory of a particular student, Hal, a blind boy. I taught him twice a day — Introductory Psychology and Introductory Anthropology. I felt sorry that he was always a bit on the periphery of the lessons, though students often helped him in class and I tried to avoid the use of media and the blackboard. On the day in question, I was teaching Classical Conditioning and had decided to use a whistle and a straw to condition class volunteers. It was a simple demonstration; blow the whistle and at the same time puff air into an eye. A blink would result. After about a dozen puffs the sound of the whistle alone would cause the student to blink. Hal realized this was an activity in which he, finally, could fully participate and charged from his seat, desk scattering, to reach mine where I gladly proceeded with the demonstration. It didn't work. Puzzled at my failure, Hal wondered out loud if perhaps the reason was that he had eyes made of glass. The class applauded as did I. For once, Hal had been fully engaged and at the centre of our learning. I wondered if the writing of the memoir concerning that day would put an end to his omnipresence in my memory. Conversely, it has reinforced it."
First lines
I have been thinking of glass eyes.
I wish you could have known Hal, a boy born prematurely whose eyes had been destroyed in an oxygen enriched incubator, a boy whose white cane tapped its way around the corridors of Lindsay Place High School and into my classroom, twice a day.
The equipment is ready, a straw and a whistle, and I am waiting with eager anticipation for the final students to arrive for my morning class in Introduction to Psychology.
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)