Suzette Mayr, Kevin Chong and Ashley Audrain to judge 2024 CBC Short Story Prize

Suzette Mayr, Kevin Chong and Ashley Audrain will judge the 2024 CBC Short Story Prize.

The CBC Short Story Prize recognizes original, unpublished works of fiction, up to 2,500 words in length.

The winner will receive $6,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts, have the opportunity to attend a two-week writing residency at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity and have their work published on CBC Books.

Four finalists will each receive $1,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts and have their work published on CBC Books.

The 2024 CBC Short Story Prize is open for submissions until Nov. 1, 2023 at 4:59 p.m. ET.

• CBC Short Story Prize open for 2024 submit your new fiction now!

Suzette Mayr is the author of the novels The Sleeping Car Porter, Dr. Edith Vane and the Hares of Crawley Hall, Monoceros, Moon Honey, The Widows and Venous Hum.

She won the 2022 Giller Prize for The Sleeping Car Porter. Mayr lives in Calgary.

• Suzette Mayr's novel The Sleeping Car Porter uses magic realism to highlight Black Canadian history

The Sleeping Car Portertells the story of Baxter, a Black man in 1929 who works as a sleeping car porter on a train that travels across the country. He smiles and tries to be invisible to the passengers, but what he really wants is to save up and go to dentistry school. On one particular trip out west, the train is stalled and Baxter finds a naughty postcard of two gay men. The postcard reawakens his memories and longings and puts his job in jeopardy.

WATCH | Suzette Mayr on CBC News:

Giller winner Suzette Mayr wrote story of 'Black joy' she couldn't find

2 years ago

Duration 7:08

Suzette Mayr has won the 2022 Scotiabank Giller Prize for her novel The Sleeping Car Porter, the story of a gay Black man in 1929 who works as a porter on a train that travels across the country.

Kevin Chong is a Vancouver-based writer and associate professor at the University of British Columbia Okanagan. His other books include the nonfiction book Northern Dancer and fiction titles like The Plague and Beauty Plus Pity. He was longlisted for the CBC Nonfiction Prizetwice. In 2015 for Empty Houses and in 2020 for White Space.

Chong's latest book, The Double Life of Benson Yu, is a finalist for the 2023 Scotiabank Giller Prize.

• Kevin Chong wants you to write about what you're obsessed with

The Double Life of Benson Yurecounts the difficult adolescence of the titular character growing up in a housing project in 1980s Chinatown. The story takes a metafictional twist, when Yu's grip on memory and reality falters. The unique structure provides a layered and poignant look into how we come to terms with who we are, what happened to us as children, and that finding hope and healing lies in whether we choose to suppress or process our experiences.

LISTEN | Kevin Chong on being a juror for the 2024 CBC Short Story Prize:

On The Coast6:57Vancouver author shortlisted for Giller Prize

Kevin Chong speaks with Gloria Macarenko about the nomination for his book 'The Double Life of Benson Yu' and being a judge for the 2024 CBC Short Story Prize.

Ashley Audrain is the former publicity director of Penguin Canada. Her debut novel The Push was a New York Times bestseller and won the Best Crime First Novel at the 2022 Crime Writers of Canada Awards. She currently lives in Toronto.

She is also the author of the thriller The Whispers.

• Read an excerpt from the Canadian thriller The Push by Ashley Audrain

InThe Whispers, the truths behind a picture perfect neighbourhood is revealed following an incident at a neighbourhood barbeque when the seemingly flawless hostess explodes in fury because her son disobeys her. When the son falls from his bedside window one night, and the mother stops talking to everyone as she accompanies him at the hospital where he is fighting for his life, the women in the neighbourhood begin to contend with what led to this horrible incident.

LISTEN | Ashley Audrain discussesThe Push:

The Next Chapter17:39Ashley Audrain on The Push

Ashely Audrain talks to Shelagh Rogers about her debut novel, The Push.

The jury will select the shortlist and winner. A panel of established writers and editors from across Canada review the submissions and will determine the longlist from all the submissions. The longlist, shortlist and winner will be announced in spring 2024.

Last year's winner was Vancouver writer Will Richter for his story Just a Howl.

• Vancouver writer Will Richter wins 2023 CBC Short Story Prize

The CBC Literary Prizes have been recognizing Canadian writers since 1979. Past winners include David Bergen, Michael Ondaatje, Carol Shields and Michael Winter.

• 16 famous Canadian writers who won CBC Literary Prizes

Need a little motivation to get you going? Subscribe to the CBC Short Story Prize newsletter.

If you're looking to submit to the Prix de la nouvelle Radio-Canada, you can enter here.

The 2024 CBC Nonfiction Prize will open in January and the 2024 CBC Poetry Prize will open in April.