CBC BOOKS, CBC’s online home for literary content, together with its partners the Canada Council for the Arts and Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, today announced the winner of the 2018 CBC Short Story Prize.
Leah Mol of Toronto, Ontario wins the grand prize for Lipstick Day. The story was selected from more than 2200 works received from across the country. You can read Lipstick Day at CBCBooks.ca.
As grand-prize winner, Mol will receive $6000 from the Canada Council for the Arts and her story will be published on CBC Books. She will also receive a 10-day writing residency at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity.
The jury was composed of writers Eden Robinson, Kevin Hardcastle and Heather O'Neill, who said:
“In ‘Lipstick Day,’ a teenage girl navigates the tricky world of awakening sexuality with disarming candour. This searing exploration of her inner world articulates where the social rituals of politeness collide with fumbling first experiences. The painstaking detail, the carefully chosen moments and the menacing undercurrent of difficult power dynamics give this story its haunting power."
Leah Mol works as a proofreader, writer and piano teacher. She has an MFA in creative writing from UBC and an undergraduate degree in journalism from Carleton University. Leah is currently working on a novel. She lives in Toronto.
The winner of the Radio-Canada French-language grand prize will also be announced today. For more information, go to ICI.Radio-canada.ca/icionlit under the “Prix de la nouvelle” tab.
The four runners-up for the CBC Short Story Prize, each receiving $1000 from the Canada Council for the Arts, are J. Livingston (Mission, British Columbia) for Scale of Comfort, Terri Monture (Toronto, Ontario) for Strawberries, Taqralik Partridge (Maxville, Ontario) for Fifteen Lakota Visitors, and Ayelet Tsabari (Toronto, Ontario) for Green.
For more information on the CBC Literary Prizes, please visit CBCbooks.ca.
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About CBC Books
Home to Canada Reads, Writers & Company with Eleanor Wachtel, The Next Chapter with Shelagh Rogers, Canada Writes and the CBC Literary Prizes, CBC Books connects Canadians with books, encouraging a shared love of reading and writing. For book news, writing challenges, reading lists, book recommendations and more, visit www.CBCbooks.ca.
About CBC/Radio-Canada
CBC/Radio-Canada is Canada’s national public broadcaster. Through our mandate to inform, enlighten and entertain, we play a central role in strengthening Canadian culture. As Canada’s trusted news source, we offer a uniquely Canadian perspective on news, current affairs and world affairs. Our distinctively homegrown entertainment programming draws audiences from across the country. Deeply rooted in communities, CBC/Radio-Canada offers diverse content in English, French and eight Indigenous languages. We are leading the transformation to meet the needs of Canadians in a digital world.
Canada Council for the Arts
The Canada Council for the Arts is Canada’s national arts funder. Its grants and payments to artists and arts organizations benefit Canadians by ensuring a vibrant arts sector in Canada. Its awards celebrate creativity by recognizing exceptional Canadians in the arts, humanities and sciences. The Canada Council Art Bank is a national collection of over 17,000 Canadian contemporary artworks – all accessible to the public through rental, loan and outreach programs. The Canadian Commission for UNESCO operates under the general authority of the Canada Council. The Canada Council for the Arts also distributes payments to over 17,000 Canadian authors annually through the Public Lending Right (PLR) Program as compensation for free public access to their books in Canadian public libraries.
About Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity
Founded in 1933, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity is a learning organization built upon an extraordinary legacy of excellence in artistic and creative development. What started as a single course in drama has grown to become the global organization leading in arts, culture, and creativity across dozens of disciplines. From our home in the stunning Canadian Rocky Mountains, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity aims to inspire everyone who attends our campus – artists, leaders, and thinkers – to unleash their creative potential and realize their unique contribution to society through cross-disciplinary learning opportunities, world-class performances, and public outreach.
For further information, contact:
Nicola Makoway
Publicist, CBC Books
nicola.makoway@cbc.ca
416-205-7673
Diane Hargrave
Diane Hargrave Public Relations
dhprbks@interlog.com
416-467-9954
