April 4, 2018

CBC Short Story Contest Longlist

Dear Friends and Supporters I am excited and honoured to announce that my story, The Great Caribou, made the CBC Short Story Prize Longlist http://www.cbc.ca/1.4602629. Some of you may not have realized that as well as doing art, I am a writer. As the only Nova Scotia writer who made the CBC longlist and well aware that this contest receives thousands of entries, I’m humbled to have my story make it this far! For me, this means winning already! I’m very interested to read the other stories and I congratulate the other writers on the longlist. The Great Caribou is the result of many rewrites and I must extend a huge thanks to my circle of readers and editors John Graham-Pole, Carla Haley-Baxter, Angus Braid, and Dorothy Lander. The Great Caribou is a short story adapted from a chapter in my upcoming novel and follows a settler woman in the 1870’s trying to hunt to feed her starving children. I’ve been working at an historical multi-generation novel for about 15 years and am now closer to finishing it. Creative writing is something I’ve done all my life, but this is the first time I decided to share my creative fiction in many years. I must also give thanks to WO Mitchell, Hugh MacLennan, and Don Coles who always believed in my writing and encouraged me to share it. Writer Donna Morrissey who was Writer in Residence at the People’s Place Library also looked at an earlier draft of this and encouraged me to keep going. Where would writers be without a strong group of editors and supporters around them? There’s more about me and my story at cbc.ca/1.4588219. The shortlist for the prize will be announced on Tuesday April 10 and the winner will be revealed on Tuesday April 17. Good luck to all the longlisted writers. If you would like more information about The Great Caribou or my writing, please don’t hesitate to contact me directly at [email protected], or my agent, Giulia De Gasperi [email protected].