Mothers Day, 2017 by Gráinne Downey
Gráinne Downey has made the 2025 CBC Short Story Prize longlist for Mothers Day, 2017.
The winner of the 2025 CBC Short Story Prize will receive $6,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts, a two-week writing residency at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity and their work will be published on CBC Books. The four remaining finalists will each receive $1,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts and have their work published on CBC Books.
The shortlist will be announced on April 10 and the winner will be announced on April 17.
If you're interested in other CBC Literary Prizes, the 2025 CBC Poetry Prize is currently accepting submissions. You can submit an original, unpublished poem or collection of poems from April 1-June 1.
The 2026 CBC Short Story Prize will open in September and the 2026 CBC Nonfiction Prize will open in January.
About Gráinne Downey
Gráinne Downey is a writer and visual artist living in Vancouver on the traditional, unceded territory of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tseil-Waututh people. She is currently pursuing an MFA in creative writing at the University of British Columbia and was previously shortlisted for the 2024 Room Magazine Creative Non-Fiction contest.
Entry in five-ish words
" The ceiling won't stop leaking."
The short story's source of inspiration
"I spend a lot of time walking and running by the water, which means I see a lot of harbour seals. They're at once very normal, common animals and very magical ones. Selkie folklore felt like a natural outlet for a story about a woman's discomfort with her situation and her skin, so I chose to set the story in a more traditionally selkie-ish location, the north of Ireland."
First lines
Maureen empties the bucket once each morning and again in the evening before she goes to bed. The leak started two weeks ago, an issue with the pipes that her father began to explain before waving her away. "Don't worry yourself," he'd said, "I'll fix it." They laid a towel out and brought in a plastic bucket from the shed to catch the water that has since dripped ceaselessly day and night. It annoyed Maureen for a few days, but now the dripping feels as much a part of the house as the faulty screen door and the wobbling kitchen stool and her own dismal body. Last night as she washed up, the dripping created an ugly rhythm with the smoke detector beeping for a new battery and she found herself scrubbing in time.
Check out the rest of the longlist
The longlist was selected from more than 2,300 entries. A team of 12 writers and editors from across Canada compiled the list.
The jury selects the shortlist and the eventual winner from the readers' longlisted selections. This year's jury is composed of Conor Kerr, Kudakwashe Rutendo and Michael Christie.
The complete list is:
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Her previous works include And Miles To Go Before I Sleep, The Laws of the Skies and Suzanne. A seven-time finalist for the Governor General's Literary Award for Translation, Mullins won in 2015 for her translation of Jocelyne Saucier's Twenty-One Cardinals. Her translation And the Birds Rained Down by Saucier was a Canada Reads selection for 2015. A Little Holiday Fling by Farah Heron Ruby Dhanji loves Christmas and everything to do with the United Kingdom. In A Little Holiday Fling, she's on the verge of realizing her and her late mother's dream of owning a small inn in England. She just needs hotel experience to make it happen. When she meets Rashid, the son of luxury hotel chain owners who hates the holiday season, she offers to give his nieces a Christmas they'll never forget — if he'll introduce her to his parents. But the more time they spend together, she starts to fall for him, even though she's planning a move across the Atlantic. When you can read it: Oct. 21 Farah Heron is a writer from Toronto. She is also the author of the romantic comedies Just Playing House, Jana Goes Wild, The Chai Factor, Accidentally Engaged, Kamila Knows Best and the YA novels Meet Me on Love Street and Tahira in Bloom. A Season for Spies by Iona Whishaw A prequel to the Lane Winslow mystery series, A Season of Spies follows Lane in wartime England while on hiatus from her studies at Oxford. She's working in a war office when she's sent on a mission to escort an important agent to the north, where her family lives. As danger lurks throughout her journey, she'll have to use everything she has to make it out safely and prove herself as a woman in a male-dominated world. When you can read it: Oct. 21 This B.C. writer's mom inspired her mystery novels. She was a spy Iona Whishaw is a Vancouver-based author, former teacher and social worker. She has published works of short fiction, poetry, the children's book Henry and the Cow Problem and the Lane Winslow Mystery series. 6:40 to Montreal by Eva Jurczyk In desperate need to work on her new book, Agatha's husband buys her a first class ticket on the 6:40 to Montreal, the scenic, six-hour train ride from Toronto to Montreal. The day is supposed to serve as a one-day writing retreat, with no Wi-Fi or distractions, but Agatha has plans of her own. When a passenger suddenly dies and the train breaks down in the middle of the snowy woods, things get sinister, and what was meant to be a peaceful train ride turns into a fight for survival. When you can read it: Oct. 28 Eva Jurczyk is a writer and librarian from Toronto. Her books include The Department of Rare Books and Special Collections and That Night in the Library. The Black Wolf by Louise Penny The Black Wolf is the 20th mystery in the Inspector Gamache series, which follows the investigations of the head of the homicide department of the Sûreté du Québec. In this latest adventure, Gamache and his team uncover and prevent a domestic terrorist attack in Montreal, arresting a man known as the Black Wolf. But the arrest only uncovers a deeper conspiracy, most notably a sinister plot to make Canada the 51st state of the United States. When you can read it: Oct. 28 Louise Penny in conversation with Mattea Roach at a live Toronto event this fall Louise Penny is a celebrated writer best known for her mystery series following Chief Inspector Armand Gamache. The book series includes The Grey Wolf, Still Life, Bury Your Dead, A Trick of the Light and A World of Curiosities. It has sold more than four million copies worldwide. In 2022, the series was adapted into an Amazon Original eight-episode series called Three Pines. Penny won the 2020 Agatha Award for best contemporary novel for the 16th book in the series, All the Devils Are Here. In 2013, she was named to the Order of Canada. Carthaginian Peace & Other Stories by Evie Christie Carthaginian Peace & Other Stories is a short story collection examining everyday domestic life. The stories feature new lovers, friends hanging out in a park, mothers laying on the guilt, and couples trying to find a cure for loneliness. When you can read it: Oct. 30 Evie Christie is an Ontario writer. Her books include Gutted, The Bourgeois Empire and Mere Extinction. She has adapted plays for Luminato, Necessary Angel Theatre Company and the National Theatre School of Canada. A Ladder of Bones by Bunmi Oyinsan A Ladder of Bones is a collection of intertwined stories that are set in West Africa, Canada, the United States and the Caribbean. The lives of five people, Siaka, Melvin, Timothy, Iona and Enilolobo — all who have lived terrifying childhoods — become interwoven when they return to West Africa as young adults. There they are forced to reckon with their pasts, while one of the characters tries to hunt them in a fit of rage. When you can read it: Oct. 31 Bunmi Oyinsan is a Nigerian Canadian writer of novels, radio, television and theatre. Her YA novel Fabulous Four won the Matatu Prize and her novel Three Women was nominated for the Flora Nwapa Prize for women's literature. Oyinsan writes, produces and presents the Sankofa Pan African Series on YouTube. She lives in Bowmanville, Ont. Songs of Love on a December Night by David Adams Richards In Songs of Love on a December Night, Jamie can't shake the rumours about him surrounding his father's death from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot. Years later, few people other than his fiancee, Gertie, believe his innocence, and the police finally arrest him. As details from the past resurface, the townsfolk — and the police — will have to reckon with the fact that there might be more to the story. When you can read it: Nov. 4 Why David Adams Richards wrote a novel about the tragedies of the rich David Adams Richards is an award-winning novelist, screenwriter, essayist, poet, senator and member of the Order of Canada. His books include Nights Below Station Street, which won the Governor General's Literary Award, Mercy Among the Children, which won the Giller Prize, Lines on the Water, which won the General's Literary Award for non-fiction, The Friends of Meagre Fortune and The Lost Highway. He lives in Fredericton. Syncopation by Whitney French In Syncopation, O and Z are young women, travel companions and lovers in a ravaged world. As a decades-long earthquake persists and people are forced to hide from deadly acid rain, the two women try to reconcile their ultimately different values — until a fateful choice must be made. When you can read it: Nov. 4 Whitney French on why nurturing the next wave of black Canadian writers is important Whitney French is a writer, artist and publisher based in Toronto. Her work has been featured in Arc Poetry, Geist, the Puritan magazine, Water Magazine, CBC Books and Quill and Quire. French edited the anthology Black Writers Matter, which won the Saskatchewan Book Award for Publishing in 2020. She is the co-founder and publisher of Hush Harbour, a Black queer feminist press. Queen Esther by John Irving When Esther is not yet four years old, she's orphaned and alone in Portland, Maine. Her father died on their passage from Vienna and her mother was murdered by antisemites in America. In Queen Esther, Dr. Larch of the orphanage realizes that Esther knows she's Jewish and has trouble finding a Jewish family to adopt her. At 14, just as she's about to become a ward of the state, Dr. Larch meets the Winslows, a philanthropic family who have previously fostered unadopted children. Even though they're not Jewish, they take Esther in and she's eternally grateful, even as she grows up and finds her way back to her birth city of Vienna. When you can read it: Nov. 4 John Irving reflects on identity, belonging and gender politics John Irving is an American-Canadian novelist and screenwriter. Irving achieved critical and popular acclaim after the international success of the 1978 novel The World According to Garp. His other work includes In One Person, The Cider House Rules, A Prayer for Owen Meany and Avenue of Mysteries. He lives in Toronto. LISTEN | John Irving on The Next Chapter: The Next ChapterJohn Irving take The Next Chapter's Proust questionnaire Evil Bones by Kathy Reichs In Evil Bones, forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan is haunted by recent animal murders that have them mutilated and displayed in a strange way. When she gets a terrifying call that suggests the next victim could be human, she jumps on the case. After a woman is found killed in a way that mimics the animal murders, Temperance must race against the clock to solve the mystery and protect those she loves. When you can read it: Nov. 18 Bones author Kathy Reichs talks about how Montreal shaped her approach to writing bestselling crime fiction Kathy Reichs is an academic and bestselling crime writer with more than 20 novels to her credit. Her bestselling mystery series about forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan was adapted into the hit television show Bones. A long-time forensic anthropologist in Montreal, she now splits her time between Charlotte, N.C., and Charleston, S.C. LISTEN | Kathy Reichs on The Next Chapter: The Next ChapterKathy Reichs answers the Proust Questionnaire (Encore: Sept. 10, 2022) Caste in the Stars by Leylah Attar When Priya's life falls apart, she finds herself at the last place she wants to be: her parents' funeral home. Hoping to stay briefly, regroup and get back on her feet, she's taken aback when her old crush, boy-next-door Ethan Knight, now a Hollywood actor, shows up back in town. He rents out the funeral home to shoot a movie and she finds herself trapped in close quarters with a man she can't resist. She'll have to decide if falling in love is worth the risk — and create space in a new-to-her world that wasn't built with her in mind. When you can read it: Dec. 16 Leylah Attar is an Indo-Canadian writer whose self-published work has been featured in New York Times, USA Today and Wall Street Journal's bestseller lists. She won the Writer's Digest Award and the IndieReader Discovery Award for her writing. Caste in the Stars is her debut traditionally published book. She lives in Toronto.
CBC
19-07-2025
- CBC
P.E.I. Symphony Orchestra's music director wins national award — the last of its kind
Jaelem Bhate remembers the moment he realized music wouldn't be an easy path. A number of years ago, he switched from pursuing a science degree to studying music academically, transferring to the University of British Columbia's School of Music. That same year, he failed his first pop quiz in music theory. "My path to music up to that point had been unexpected, and that pop quiz promised that my future music and the arts would be equally as surprising," he told CBC's Mainstreet P.E.I. Bhate, who is now the conductor and music director of the Prince Edward Island Symphony Orchestra, recently received another surprise. He was awarded the Jean-Marie Beaudet Award in Orchestra Conducting from the Canada Council for the Arts, an honour he didn't even know existed until he won. "I guess in many ways, my professional and personal background and heritage embody the spirit of the Canadian mosaic," he said. "To receive this award brings a sense of belonging to the Canadian arts community, and is an affirmation, in my view, that diversity is a strength." The award, created through a private bequest to honour the late Canadian conductor Jean-Marie Beaudet, has been given to promising young orchestra conductors since the late 1980s. Bhate is the last recipient as the fund has now been fully dispersed. The award comes with a $20,000 financial prize, and for Bhate, he said it's a reminder of the need for more funding in Canada's arts community in order to continue showcasing Canadian culture, stories and history. High demand for arts grants Michelle Chawla, director and CEO of the Canada Council for the Arts, said a peer jury chose Bhate for the award. "He reflects, you know, what Canadians are excited about. He's an incredibly talented, visionary professional in the field," she said. Chawla echoed Bhate's concerns about growing pressure on the arts sector, noting that since the COVID-19 pandemic, the council has seen a sharp increase in funding applications. That demand has made grants harder to obtain for the people and groups applying. She said the surge speaks to two key realities. "One is that Canada is full of incredible talent. We have artists from coast to coast to coast and communities big and small, who are just brilliant and they deserve support," she said. "But we also see… a lot of precarity. It's very difficult for artists to make a living. It's very difficult, you know, generally these days, in terms of our economy, so we're seeing this rise in demand." Chawla added that the council is currently working with provincial arts councils in all four Atlantic provinces to better understand regional challenges and funding needs, so that artists can be properly supported. Investment that pays off Especially now, with so much global economic uncertainty, Chawla said investing in the arts has both cultural and economic significance. "The arts and culture sector contributes $63 billion to our GDP, which I don't think too many people are aware of," she said. "850,000 people [are] working in cultural occupations across this country. We know that arts and cultural tourists spend three times more when they're in communities." But beyond the numbers, Chawla said the value of the arts runs much deeper. "The arts contribute to our cultural, social well-being, our sense of community, our sense of belonging, our unity as Canadians, our sense of identity. So we're really seized with this moment of demonstrating why investing in the arts will bring tremendous returns on so many levels." As music director of the P.E.I. Symphony Orchestra, Bhate said he is always mindful of the importance of using public funding wisely and creating programming to serve the Island community. A major part of that work is ensuring the symphony's programs are inclusive and accessible. "That is really the work that's going to continue over the next few years, and justifies our funding from the council," he said. Looking ahead Bhate said he plans to use the $20,000 award to fund new artistic projects, whether that means conducting-related initiatives, composing new works, or supporting recording projects. He said winning the prize has been a long journey, one he couldn't have completed without the support of friends and family. Through all the ups and downs, he said, his passion for music has kept him going. "Whenever you start to second-guess yourself and say, 'Is this really worth all the blood, sweat and tears?' I put on whatever music is on my mind," he said. "And when you really remind yourself of why you're doing this — for the art, for the music — then that has a tendency of pushing some of the doubt out of my mind and allows me to keep going the way that I have been."
Calgary Herald
05-06-2025
- Calgary Herald
'It was exciting . . . but not a lot of sleep': Thirty years later, founding artistic director looks back on 'crazy' first year of Wordfest
Article content Anne Green sought out advice from a number of people while helping organize and run the first Wordfest 30 years ago. Article content Green had a background in performing arts and a knack for organizing events, although she had never worked directly in literary arts. She had founded Edmonton's Theatre 3 in 1970 and had spent nine years in Ottawa working for the Canada Council for the Arts. There was certainly support for a new literary festival. Modelled after the Vancouver International Writers and Readers Festival, there was a 12-person steering committee. There was involvement from the founding community partners, which included the Banff Centre, Calgary Public Library, Mount Royal University, and the Writers' Guild of Alberta. Green had plenty of writer friends to confer with and Calgarians whom she knew who had a background in business or were on national boards of directors. So, advisors were not in short supply. Article content Article content Still, some were more memorable than others. Article content Article content The first event established itself as a serious literary enterprise from the get-go. Wayson Choy, Lorna Crozier, Tomson Highway, Joy Fielding, Patrick Lane, Paul Quarrington and Guy Vanderhaeghe all showed up, as did CBC's Vicki Gabereau, Stuart McLean, Bill Richardson and Arthur Black. But it was scoring that first headliner, CanLit royalty Margaret Atwood, that was the major coup. This would not be a festival with humble beginnings. Article content 'It was pretty amazing,' Green says. 'She was so generous. She was and still is a serious trooper. I remember there was a little coffee shop on one side of the Uptown (Theatre) that served amazing coffee. Sitting there with her, she gave me advice that really saw me through the 15 years of the festival. She told me stuff that I kept with me all those years on how to treat authors, what they expected, what the stereotypes were and what was true about that and what wasn't true of that.' Article content Article content The festival launched in October 1996, with events in Calgary and Banff. The Calgary events were held at the old Uptown Theatre downtown. It was a bit of a blur for Green, who would stay on as artistic director for Wordfest's first 15 years. Article content 'It was just crazy,' she says. 'It was unbelievable that we had managed to do this. It was exciting… but not a lot of sleep.' Article content It was such a success that Year 2 saw an equally stellar lineup. Irish-lit superstar Roddy Doyle made his first appearance, despite not having a book to promote at the time. Green had managed to find his office number in Ireland and cold-called him with an invite. That was also the year that legendary Canadian short-story legend Mavis Gallant came from France. Wordfest's fax machine was at Green's home, and Gallant only communicated via fax, so Green remembers occasionally receiving missives from the formidable expat at 4 a.m. Gallant attended some events in Banff and became infamously disgusted by the elk roaming through town. She claimed a few had tried to run her off the sidewalk.
