Books by past CBC Nonfiction Prize finalists being published in 2024

Being a finalist for theCBC NonfictionPrizecan jump-start your literary career. Need proof? Here are sevenbooks that were written by formerCBC NonfictionPrizefinalists that are coming out this spring.

The2024 CBC Nonfiction Prizeis open for submissions until March 1, 2024 at 4:59 p.m. ET.

You can submit original, unpublished nonfiction that is up to 2,000 words in length. Nonfiction includes memoir, biography, humour writing, essay (including personal essay), travel writing and feature articles.

The winner will receive $6,000 from theCanada Council for the Arts, a two-week writing residency atBanff Centre for Arts and Creativityand will have their work published onCBC Books.

• Calling all writers! The 2024 CBC Nonfiction Prize is now open

Four finalists will each receive $1,000 from theCanada Council for the Artsand have their work published onCBC Books.

Takedown by Ali Bryan

Takedown tells the story of Rowan,a 16-year old wrestler who had planned to follow her boyfriend to college. But when an opportunity arises for her to make more money that will help her father, who is sufferingfrom worsening ALS symptoms, she decides to join an illegal fight club instead. Rowan will have to learn some difficult life lessons while she navigates these troubling waters.

When you can read it:May 2024

Ali Bryan is a writer from Halifax currently based in Calgary.Her first novel,Roost, won the Georges Bugnet Award for Fiction. Her second novel,The Figgs, wasshortlisted for Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humourin 2019. She published two books in 2023:CoqandThe Crow Valley Karaoke Championships.

• 57 books by past CBC Literary Prizes winners and finalists that came out in 2023

Bryan waslonglisted for theCBC Nonfiction Prizein 2014and in 2010. She was also a reader for the 2024 CBC Short Story Prize.

The Price of Cookies by Finnian Burnett

The Price of Cookiesis a collection of 24 linked stories revolving around a series of characters all living in the same town. The short stories explore the themes of loveand griefwhile also depicting each character's complex relationship with food.

When you can read it:May 2024

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Burnett holds a doctoral degree in English pedagogy and teaches English online for a U.S. college. Their writing explores intersections of identity fatness, mental health, disability, queer joy. They're currently working on an epistolary novel about a trans man trying to reconcile a complex relationship with his dead mother. Burnett wasshortlisted for the 2023 CBC Nonfiction Prize.

Monsters, Martyrs, and Marionettes by Adrienne Gruber

InMonsters, Martyrs, and Marionettes, Adrienne Gruberexplores the theme of motherhood through a collection of essays. It celebratesbodies, maternal bonds,beauty, butalso the uglier side of parenthood,the chaos and even how close we are to death at any given moment.

When you can read it:May 1, 2024

• 38 writers from across Canada make the 2023 CBC Nonfiction Prize longlist

Gruber is a poet and essayist originally from Saskatoon. She is the author of three books of poetry, most recentlyQ & A, and five chapbooks. She placed third in Event's creative non-fiction contest in 2020 and was the runner up in SubTerrain's creative non-fiction contest in 2023.

Gruber was longlisted forthe 2023 CBC Nonfiction Prizefor Clocks. In 2020, she made theCBC Nonfiction Prize longlistforOur Feedback Loop, Our Fractal, Our Never-Ending Pattern. Gruber was also on thelonglist for the 2016 CBC Poetry PrizeforBetter Birthing Through Chemistry.

Hazard, Home by Christine Lowther

The poetry collection Hazard, Homedelves into the issues of urbanization, climate changeand loss of biodiversity. Through her poems, poet Christine Lowtherexpresses her deep concern for all the living organisms inhabiting earth. The poems speak of the urgent need for change while also celebrating the beauty of nature.

When you can read it:Feb. 2024

• 5 writers make the 2023 CBC Nonfiction Prize shortlist

Lowtheris the editor ofWorth More Standing: Poets and Activists Pay Homage to Treesand its youth companion volume. She is also the author of four poetry collections. In 2014, she was presented with the inaugural Rainy Coast Award for Significant Accomplishment. Lowther's memoirBorn Out of Thiswas shortlisted for the 2015 Roderick Haig-Brown Regional Prize. In 2016, Lowther won first place in the creative non-fiction category of the Federation of British Columbia Writers Literary Writes contest. She served as Tofino's Poet Laureate during the pandemic. Most recently, Lowther was one of the finalists for the 2023 CBC Nonfiction Prize for Enviromental Services.

Empires of the Everyday by Anna Lee-Popham

Anna Lee-Popham's debut poetry collectionEmpires of the Everydayexplores the themes of modern city living, violence and dealing with artificial intelligence.

When you can read it:March 26, 2024

• 31 writers make the 2022 CBC Nonfiction Prize longlist

Lee-Popham is a poet, writerand editor in Toronto. She is a graduate of the MFA in creative writing at the University of Guelph, the Writer's Studio at Simon Fraser University and University of Toronto's School of Continuing Education creative writing certificate, where she received the Janice Colbert Poetry Award. Her writing was the first runner-up inPRISM international's Pacific Poetry Prize, shortlisted for the Fiddlehead'sCreative Nonfiction Contest and has been recently published in Arc, Riddle Fence, Canthius and Autostraddle. She co-hosts the Emerging Writers Reading Series and was an editor at HELD magazine. Lee-Popham was on the longlist for the 2022 CBC Nonfiction Prize for In the Hours After.

This Is a Tiny Fragile Snake by Nicholas Ruddock

This Is a Tiny Fragile Snake is a picture book that explores various encounters with animals through 15 poems and illustrations. The book encourages its readers to respond with tenderness when coming across those animals.This Is a Tiny Fragile Snake is for ages 3 and up.

When you can read it:Feb. 2024

• 5 writers make the 2023 CBC Short Story Prize shortlist

Nicholas Ruddock is a physician and writer who has worked in Newfoundland and Labrador, Quebec, Yukon and Ontario. Has had novels, short stories, poetry published since 2002 in Canada, U.K., Ireland and Germany. He is married to the artist Cheryl Ruddock, with four children.He is the author of the 2021 novelLast Hummingbird of West Chileand previously made the2016CBCPoery Prize longlistforStormas well as the2016 CBC Nonfiction Prize longlistforThe Hummingbirds. Most recently, Ruddock was shortlisted for the 2023 CBC Short Story Prize for his story Marriage.

Precedented Parroting by Barbara Tran

The poems in Precedented Parroting explore themes of loss, the natural world, Asian stereotypesand our feathered friends. It's also a book about survival through generations and how bothloss and feathers canenable and necessitate flight.

When you can read it:Feb. 2024

Barbara Tran was born in New York City and is now based in Toronto. Her writinghasappeared in Women's Review of Books, Ploughsharesand The New Yorker. Honours include a MacDowell Colony GeraldFreund Fellowship, Pushcart Prizeand Lannan Foundation Writing Residency. Tran was longlisted for the 2018 CBC Nonfiction Prize for Living Room.