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Tomorrow, The Next Day, and the Day After That by Kelly S. Thompson

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

Kelly S. Thompson is on the 2024 CBC Nonfiction Prize longlist

Image | Kelly S. Thompson

Caption: Kelly S. Thompson is a Canadian writer currently based in Colorado Springs, Colorado. (Krystyna Marie Photography)

Kelly S. Thompson has made the 2024 CBC Nonfiction Prize longlist for Tomorrow, The Next Day, and the Day After That.
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 Kelly S. Thompson

Kelly S. Thompson has an MFA and PhD in creative writing and is a mentor at the University of King's College MFA Nonfiction program. Her writing was shortlisted for a National Magazine Award. Her essays, fiction and poetry have appeared in Chatelaine, the Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star and Macleans. Her memoir, Girls Need Not Apply, was named a top 100 Book of 2019 by the Globe and Mail. Her second memoir, Still, I Cannot Save You, was released in spring 2023.
Thompson was shortlisted for the 2023 CBC Nonfiction Prize for The Edge of Change. The Edge of Change was supposed to be part of her memoir Still, I Cannot Save You, before it was cut in the editing process. In 2021, she also made the longlist for the CBC Nonfiction Prize for Dear CAF.

Entry in five-ish words

"Depression, dogs, and slippery levity."

The story's source of inspiration

"I've been working on a collection of essays about how dogs impact our lives, and this was the first one I wrote. My dogs have always been the beings that get me through the darkest days and they deserve centre stage for it!"

First lines

I lay stretched supine, duvet pushed down to my feet while the air conditioner churns on overdrive. Three am. Too early, or too late—I'm not sure anymore. I drain my water glass on the bedside table, perpetually parched with all meds — one of many delightful side effects. Say nothing of the weight gain, the sweats, the weird slow-motion brain moments when my synapses struggle to electrify. Meds to make me better emotionally to then make me feel worse physically to then make me worse emotionally and around and around we go.

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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