6 emerging writers shortlisted for $10K RBC Bronwen Wallace Awards
The Writers' Trust of Canada announced the finalists for the RBC Bronwen Wallace Award. The prize recognizes emerging writers in both poetry and short fiction.
The winner of each prize will receive $10,000.
The prize was established in 1994 in memory of poet and short story writer Bronwen Wallace. It is currently sponsored by the RBC Emerging Artists Project.
The finalists for the poetry prize are Jessica Bebenek, Hannah Green and Zehra Naqvi.
Bebenek is a queer poet, risograph printer, bookmaker and interdisciplinary artist. She is nominated for Selections from No One Knows Us There.
Currently based in Montreal, Bebenek is completing her first full poetry collection. Her recent poetry has been published in PRISM International, CV2, filling Station and 30 Under 30: An Anthology of Canadian Millennial Poets.
"Written with a big red broken heart, but built on a base of technical acumen and sturdy music, it brings the whole chaos of youthful mourning to light in episodes of drama, insight, and humour," the jury said in a statement in praise of Selections from No One Knows Us There.
Green is a writer and poetry editor at CV2. She holds a BA in English from the University of Winnipeg and an MA in English from Concordia University.
Green is nominated for XANAX COWBOY, which she is currently developing into a long poem and hopes to be her first book of poetry.
"XANAX COWBOY is a metapoetic romp that chews through the lexicons of pulp, pop and academia, spitting out pieces that are at once campy, dark and gnawingly tender," said the jury in a statement.
"Green knows just when to loosen the slack and when to jerk the line arrestingly taut."
A writer, editor and educator, Naqvi is nominated for The Knot of My Tongue. Her previous poem, forgetting urdu, was the winner of ROOM Magazine's 2016 poetry contest.
Naqvi was born in Karachi and raised in Vancouver. She studied at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar, and is currently teaching in the U.K. while working on her first book.
"These heartfelt poems play with form and structure as they weave their way through Quranic tradition, the conspiratorial silence of community and family, and the poet's inner world towards a beauty that speaks beyond the limitations of language," the jury said in a statement.
The finalists for the short fiction prize are Carolyn Chung, Anna Ling Kaye and Joshua Wales.
Nominated for Bright Fish, Dead Bird, Chung is a writer based in Toronto. Her work has appeared in publications including Broken Pencil, The Puritan and FreeFall Magazine.
Bright Fish, Dead Bird is "a poignant and unapologetic portrait of a desolate man ruminating on the choices that led to his current state of loneliness," said the jury in a statement.
"Carolyn Chung's graceful prose and elegant turns of phrase create a rich inner life for the protagonist and narrator, immersing the reader in the thoughts and emotions of a complex and wonderfully nuanced character."
A writer and editor based in Vancouver, Kaye Grew up in countries across Asia. She is nominated for East City, a story of displaced lives in a Chinese manufacturing metropolis.
Kaye is a columnist on CBC Radio. She has served as the artistic editor at PRISM international and Ricepaper. Her fiction has been shortlisted for the 2015 Journey Prize.
"This story is both attentive to its own specifics and filled with the universal shadows of human experience, gesturing outward at the stark reality of life for migrant workers around the world," the jury said in a statement.
Wales is a writer, physician and MFA student at the University of British Columbia. He is nominated for Mass Effect.
Wales won the 2020 Peter Hinchcliffe Fiction. His work has been shortlisted for the Commonwealth Short Story Prize, PRISM international's Jacob Zilber Short Fiction Prize and CV2's Young Buck Poetry Prize.
"Despite a bleak premise, Wales bucks the reader's expectations by gifting Ivan and Eddie with pitch dark humour as a coping mechanism — and leads them to a climax at once absurd and believable," said the jury in a statement.
"Mass Effect is a heartbreaking, character-driven story about the perplexing humanity that life-altering experiences can reveal in us."
Each finalist will receive $2,500 and a mentorship opportunity with an established editor, who will provide feedback on their writing and offer guidance on their career development.
The winners will be announced on June 16, 2021.
The Writers' Trust of Canada is a charitable organization that seeks to advance, nurture and celebrate Canadian writers and writing through programs including awards, fellowship and mentorship opportunities.
It gives out seven prizes in recognition of the year's best in fiction, nonfiction and short story, as well as mid-career and lifetime achievement awards.
The organization gave out more than $970,000 to support Canadian writers in 2020.
