Corinna Chong, Brooks McMullin, Miranda Morris, Ben Pitfield and Saeed Teebi are the five writers who made the 2021 CBC Short Story Prize shortlist. CBC will announce the winner on April 29 and grant that person a $6,000 and a two-week writing residency at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. The Canada Council for the Arts will provide the winner with the prize money. All five finalists had their work published on CBC Books.
Souvankham Thammavongsa, Craig Davidson and Lee Maracle are the juries of this year’s contest. They are also the ones who will pick the winner. There were nearly 3,000 submissions, sent by writers and editors from all parts of Canada.
The shortlist for the French-language competition has also been revealed and could be seen at the Prix de la nouvelle Radio-Canada. Calgary writer Brenda Damen is the last year’s winner. She got the prize for her short story Gibson.
The five finalists are all listed below.
Corinna Chong from the University of New Brunswick currently teaches English and fine arts at Okanagan College in Kelowna, B.C. Her story, Kinds in the Kindergarten talk about miscarriages and motherhood.
Brooks McMullin is a university lecturer of literature and composition living in Prince Albert, Sask. His work, Deville at Home, is about a teacher on a new job. The teacher is also a war veteran suffering from PTSD.
Miranda Morris is a writer, illustrator, and multi-instrumentalist who is currently living in Hamilton. She wrote Stump, a piece that is about a controversial character living in a small Canadian town.
Ben Pitfield is an artist and tree planter from Toronto. He has planted 750,000 trees in northern forests. His story, Leaving Moonbeam, is all about the connection between humans and technology.
Saeed Teebi is a lawyer and writer from Toronto. He was born in Kuwait, and after leaving in the US for some time, his Palestinian parent moved with him to Canada in 1993. The story, Her First Palestinian, talks about immigrant life in a foreign country and their unique mindset shaped by uncommon events.
