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 Corinna Chong of Kelowna, B.C. as the winner of the 2021 CBC Short Story Prize. Chong’s story, Kids in Kindergarten, was selected from nearly 3,000 entries.
As the grand-prize winner, Chong will receive $6,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts and her story has been published on CBCBooks.ca. She will also receive a two-week writing residency at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity.
The 2021 CBC Short Story jurors Souvankham Thammavongsa, Craig Davidson and Lee Maracle, said this about Chong’s story:
“Kids in Kindergarten is a story about the quietly devastating things we don’t say out loud. Small, seemingly meaningless words like ‘it’ and ‘this’ are made to amplify and carry power so beautifully. The writer has a wonderful ear for sound and speech; a sense for what a real voice can do on the page, filling in character, and creating talk that reveals and feels so true to life. Every character in a scene is never made to be minor no matter how little they say or do. Sharply observed, blunt, at times funny, unflinching, indelible. You won’t mind at all that the last line of the story will break your heart over and over again in just the right place.”
Corinna Chong said, “I’m floored that Kids in Kindergarten was chosen among so many brilliant pieces as the winner of the 2021 CBC Short Story Prize. What an incredible honour! I found it challenging to write about the subject of pregnancy loss with the sensitivity it deserves, and I’m gratified to know that the story resonated with the jury. Many thanks to CBC Books.”
The four runners-up for the 2021 CBC Short Story Prize, each receiving $1,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts, are: Brooks McMullin of Prince Albert, Sask. for Deville at Home; Miranda Morris of Hamilton for Stump; Ben Pitfield of Toronto for Leaving Moonbeam; and Saeed Teebi of Toronto for Her First Palestinian.
CBC Books also announced Julie Bouchard as the winner of the French grand prize for Voici Vivian Vachon. More information is available at ICI.Radio-canada.ca/icionlit under “Prix de la nouvelle Radio-Canada.”
For more information on the CBC Literary Prizes, please visit CBCBooks.ca.
