I wrote a story back in July that I realised, upon reading it back, was entirely non-fictional (modulo the exact words used in dialogue). A lot of the things I write are semi-autobiographical anyway, so I was intending to pass it off as just another (fictional) short story. Then a couple of weeks later I saw The Malahat Review’s submission call for the Constance Rooke Creative Nonfiction Prize, and I thought I might as well enter, as it isn’t every day that I write a piece of CNF.
Last week, it was announced that my piece, entitled “Lanterns”, won the contest! I was notified by email a couple of weeks earlier, but I’m still in shock and, above all, super honoured. I made a post talking about how I got into writing, and you’ll see from that post that The Malahat Review is one of the very first literary magazines I ever became aware of. I was told that this year, there were 155 entrants to the contest, and my piece was picked by judge Gloria Blizzard.
My piece will appear in issue 229 of The Malahat Review, on shelves in early January 2025.