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CBC
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- CBC
Conor Kerr, Ashley Tate and Thomas King among winners of 2025 Crime Writers of Canada Awards
Conor Kerr, Ashley Tate and Thomas King are among the winners of the 2025 Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence in Canadian Crime Writing. The annual awards, created by the Crime Writers of Canada in 1984, uplift the best in mystery, crime, suspense fiction and crime nonfiction by Canadian authors. Kerr won the $1,000 best crime novel award for Prairie Edge, which was shortlisted for both the 2024 Giller Prize and the 2024 Atwood Gibson fiction prize. In Prairie Edge, Isidore (Ezzy) Desjarlais and Grey Ginther live together in Grey's uncle's trailer, passing their time with cribbage and cheap beer. Grey is cynical of what she feels is a lazy and performative activist culture, while Ezzy is simply devoted to his distant cousin. So when Grey concocts a scheme to set a herd of bison loose in downtown Edmonton, Ezzy is along for the ride — one that has devastating, fatal consequences. How an escaped Albertan bison herd inspired Conor Kerr's latest novel about resisting colonial structures Kerr is a Métis/Ukrainian writer who has lived in a number of prairie towns and cities, including Saskatoon. He now lives in Edmonton. A 2022 CBC Books writer to watch, his previous works include the novels Old Gods and Avenue of Champions, which was longlisted for the 2022 Scotiabank Giller Prize, and won the ReLit award the same year. Kerr currently teaches creative writing at the University of Alberta. Tate won the $1,000 prize for best first crime novel for Twenty-Seven Minutes. Twenty-Seven Minutes tells the story of a small town haunted by the death of its golden girl in a tragic accident 10 years earlier. For years, people have wondered why it took her brother 27 minutes to call for help after the car accident. Now, he's bursting with a secret to tell — but he's not the only one with something to hide. Tate is a Toronto writer and editor. Twenty-Seven Minutes is her debut novel. King won the $500 Whodunit Award for Best Traditional Mystery for Black Ice. In Black Ice, Thumps Dreadfulwater has been appointed deputy sheriff and is in over his head. The usual cases of Chinook would be enough to keep him busy, but when ninja assassin Cisco Cruz comes back to town, he finds himself deep in an elaborate web of lies and plots by the evil collective known as Black Ice. If he wants to keep Chinook safe, he'll have to untangle them. Thomas King's new novel imagines how we'd react if aliens paid us a visit — read an excerpt now King is a Canadian American writer of Cherokee and Greek ancestry. His books include Truth & Bright Water; Green Grass, Running Water, which was on Canada Reads in 2004; The Inconvenient Indian, which was on Canada Reads in 2015; and The Back of the Turtle, which won the Governor General's Literary Award for fiction in 2014. He also writes the DreadfulWater mystery series. Talaga's The Knowing tied for best nonfiction crime writing award with Out of Darkness by Denise Chong. The complete list of winners is as follows:
Winnipeg Free Press
10-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Winnipeg Free Press
On the night table: Conor Kerr
Conor Kerr Author, Prairie Edge I work teaching creative writing at the University of Alberta, and I'm in the middle of wrapping up our workshops for undergraduate short fiction. So I've been reading a lot of undergraduate short stories — some are incredible. I also just finished the judging for the CBC short story contest, so I've been going through the long list of those stories as well — it was really fun to see what was brought forward throughout Canada. So my reading has been pretty short story heavy for the last couple of months. Jordon Hon photo Conor Kerr When I'm in the process of trying to build out a new novel, which I finished up back in January, I tend to not read as much, and to just try to centre myself within the story that I'm creating. I find I can't find my focus to the same extent. Winnipeg Jets Game Days On Winnipeg Jets game days, hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe send news, notes and quotes from the morning skate, as well as injury updates and lineup decisions. Arrives a few hours prior to puck drop. But prior to that, one of the cool books I read was Big Chief by Jon Hickey, which just came out, as well as I think my favorite book of poetry ever, which is Xanax Cowboy by Winnipeg's Hannah Green. I try to give everyone that book. I've probably given away eight copies. I also read Kyle Edwards' Small Ceremonies; it was one of my favorite books I've read in the last little bit. Oh, and I really enjoyed Coexistence, Billy-Ray Belcourt's new book of short stories. Buy on
CBC
03-04-2025
- Entertainment
- CBC
Mount Zoo by Paul Warren
Social Sharing Paul Warren has made the 2025 CBC Short Story Prize longlist for Mount Zoo. 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 Paul Warren Paul Warren is a writer who lives in Duncan on Vancouver Island. He was born in Manchester, U.K., studied at the London School of Economics and at the Universities of Essex and Warwick, and taught at the Universities of Manchester and Strathclyde. Since coming to Canada he has lived and worked in southern Ontario and on Vancouver Island. He is currently focused on writing short stories; his story Ink is forthcoming in The Threepenny Review. Entry in five-ish words "A woman navigates contested space." The short story's source of inspiration "In early 2023, I visited the home and studio of an artist friend who lives on an isolated road between the foot of a mountain and the shore of a tidal estuary. My sense of this place, wedged between stillness and flux, was different from anything I'd experienced before, and I wanted to write about it. "On subsequent visits I became more aware of the place's physical relation to current First Nations reserve land as well as to ancient Hul'q'umi'num territory. I knew that the story had to acknowledge this physical relation in some way and eventually — as I wrote and revised — it helped shape the narrative's central question." First lines She has lived in this cottage for a quarter of a century now, has owned it for more than a decade. Each morning she steps from its porch into a silence broken only by the crunch of gravel beneath her feet. When she reaches the end of the short path that leads past her studio to the narrow ribbon of road she turns left past her neighbours' properties — two tear downs and a still-new cuboid of cement and glass and steel and wood. As she passes the first tear down two huge dogs appear, padding noiselessly on the other side of the chain link fence, tracking her and her morsel of a Dachshund-Chihuahua mix. 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:
CBC
03-04-2025
- Entertainment
- CBC
32 writers from across Canada make 2025 CBC Short Story Prize longlist
Thirty-two writers from across Canada have been longlisted for the 2025 CBC Short Story Prize. The complete list is: The longlist was selected from more than 2,300 entries. Submissions are processed by a two-tiered system: the initial texts are screened by a reading committee chosen for each category from a group of editors and writers across the country. The readers come up with a preliminary list of approximately 100 submissions that are then forwarded to a second reading committee. It is this committee who will decide upon the approximately 30 entries that comprise the longlist that is forwarded to the jury. Works are judged anonymously on the basis of the participant's use of language, originality of subject and writing style. 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 shortlist will be announced on April 10 and the winner will be announced on April 17. 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. They will also appear on a future episode of Bookends with Mattea Roach. Four finalists will each receive $1,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts and have their work published on CBC Books. Last year's winner was Vancouver writer Kate Gunn for her story Old Bones. You can read the entire 2024 shortlist here. The longlist for the French-language competition has also been revealed. To read more, go to the Prix de la nouvelle Radio-Canada. 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.
CBC
03-04-2025
- Entertainment
- CBC
Sudbury Saturday Night by Emily Groot
Social Sharing Emily Groot has made the 2025 CBC Short Story Prize longlist for Sudbury Saturday Night. 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 Emily Groot Emily Groot is a public health physician, born and raised in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., on the territory of Garden River and Batchewana First Nations. She now lives with her family in Sudbury, Ont. Her short stories and creative nonfiction have appeared or are forthcoming in Off Topic Publishing, CMAJ Encounters, Intima and Pulp Literature. Entry in five-ish words "That was a hard fall, eh?" The short story's source of inspiration "I wanted to honour people who use drugs in Northern Ontario, and recognize the systemic forces that harm our communities." First lines There's a taste to the air before a storm, heavy and thick. Dark clouds hug the horizon. But I ignore the coming snow, ignore the signs telling me to find shelter: there's a point in my pocket and my nose is dripping and my arms are gooseflesh. If I can only use this one last time, if I can just sit for a moment, me and the fetty — my head will clear and my guts will settle. I need to get out of the cold, need to warm up my veins, need to hang up my coat, need to roll up my sleeves. I stand up straight, stare straight ahead, and walk straight into the old arena. Like I belong here, like maybe I'm picking up my kid from hockey practice. I used to belong here, used to pick up my kid from hockey practice. 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:
