Meet the 2025 CBC Short Story Prize readers

The 2025CBC Short Story Prizeis currently accepting submissions until Nov.1, 2024.

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

• The 2025 CBC Short Story Prize is currently accepting submissions

Every year,CBC Booksenlists the help of established writers and editors from across Canada to read the thousands of entries submitted to our prizes.

Submissions are processed by a two-tiered system. Each text is read by two readers.Works are judged anonymously on the basis of the participant's use of language, originality of subject and writing style.

The first group ofreaders comes up with a preliminary list of approximately 100 texts that are then forwarded to a second reading committee. It is this committee who will decide upon the approximately 30 entries that will comprise the longlist that is then forwarded to the jury.

• Juror Conor Kerr thinks you should submit to the 2025 CBC Short Story Prize

This year, the jury is composed of Conor Kerr, Kudakwashe Rutendo and Michael Christie. They will be selecting the shortlist and the eventual winner from the longlisted selections chosen by the readers.For more on how the judging for the CBC Literary Prizes works,visit the FAQ page.

Here are the 12 writerswho will be reading the submissions to the 2025CBC Short Story Prize.

Charlene Carr

Charlene Carr is a Toronto-raised writer and author based in Nova Scotia. She is the author of several independently published novels and a novella. Her first novel with a major publisher isHold My Girl. She wasnamed a writer to watch in 2023 by CBC Books.

• Charlene Carr explores Black and biracial identity in the Maritimes with her novelWe Rip the World Apart

Her most recent novel isWe Rip the World Apart. Ittells the layered story of Kareela, a 24-year-old, biracial woman, who finds out she's pregnant and is struggling to find herself; her mother, Evelyn, who fled to Canada from Jamaica in the 1980s; and her paternal grandmother, Violet, who moved into their house after Kareela's brother was killed by the police.

LISTEN | Charlene Carr disses We Rip the World ApartonThe Next Chapter:

The Next Chapter12:55The cost of keeping silent in We Rip the World Apart

Moving from the diverse streets of Toronto to rural Atlantic Canada at a young age is something both Charlene Carr and the protagonist of her latest novel share in common. The Nova Scotia writer discusses race, politics and grief in her latest book We Rip the World Apart.

Benjamin Hertwig

Benjamin Hertwig is a writer, painter and ceramist who spent time as a soldier. His bookSlow Warwas shortlisted for the Governor General's Literary Award for poetry. Based in Edmonton, he owns Paper Birch Books, a second hand bookstore, with his partner. Hertwig was longlisted for the CBC Short Story Prizein both 2018 and 2016.

• Why Benjamin Hertwig sees parallels between pottery and poetry

InJuiceboxers, Plinko is a 16-year-old undergoing basic training before finishing high school. When he moves in with an older soldier, he and the other roommates, people from all different backgrounds, build an unlikely friendship.

After 9/11, the military plans to go to war in Afghanistan sothe young men are sent to the battlefields of Kandahar and are forever changed.

LISTEN | Benjamin Hertwig on running an independent bookstore:

Edmonton AM8:54What it's like to run an independent bookstore

This Saturday is Canadian Independent Bookstore Day. Edmonton AM's Tara McCarthy swung by Paper Birch Books to chat with co-owners Celine Chuang and Benjamin Hertwig.

David Huebert

David Huebert is a Halifax-based writer who haswon the 2016 CBC Short Story PrizeandThe Walrus Poetry Prize. He is the author of short story collectionsPeninsula Sinking, which won a Dartmouth Book Award and wasa runner-up for the Danuta Gleed Literary Award, andChemical Valley, which won the Alistair MacLeod Short Fiction Prize.

• David Huebert explores the complexity of our relationship with oil in novel Oil People

Oil Peopleweaves together two narratives and timelines to unravel family secrets and the toxic yet powerful nature of oil. The first narrative is the story of 13-year-old Jade Armbruster in 1987, who is living on the family's oil farm, a deteriorating property built by an ancestor, as her parents decide what to do about the land and their business.

The other story is that of Clyde Armbruster in 1862 who built the oil farm and the rivalry he fell into with his neighbours the reverberations of which are still felt by Jade and her family.

LISTEN | David Huebert on Bookends with Mattea Roach:

Bookends with Mattea Roach23:34David Huebert: Exploring the complexity of our relationship with oil through fiction

The novel Oil People is about a family in southwestern Ontario with deep connections to the oil industry. Oil is their present-day livelihood and heritage, but it might also be poisoning them physically and spiritually. David Huebert speaks to Mattea Roach about writing Oil People.

Rebecca Morris

Rebecca (Atkinson) Morris is a Montreal-based writer whose short stories have won the Malahat Review Open Season Award and the Humber Literary Review Emerging Writers Fiction contest. She is an alumna of the Banff Centre, winner of a Canada Council grant and an active member of the Quebec Writers' Federation.

• 64 Canadian fiction books to read in fall 2024

InOther Maps, Anna can't wait to leave her hometown after visiting for her dad's retirement party. When she runs into her ex-best friends, she's forced to confront her past and figure out if there was truth behind the rumours about the New Year's party back in high school and only then, can she move forward into a better future.

Sadi Muktadir

Sadi Muktadir is a Toronto-based writer and editor at Joyland Magazine. Hewas a finalist for the Thomas Morton Memorial Prize in Literary Excellence, a finalist for theMalahat Review's Open Season Awards, a third-place winner of theHumber Literary Review's Emerging Writer Story Contest and a winner of Toronto's What's Your Story competition. Muktadir was on CBC's writers to watch list in 2024.

• Toronto author Sadi Muktadir's debut novel transports readers to a Muslim boarding school

His 2024 debut novelLand of No Regretsfollows Nabil's fast friendship with three other misfits and the chaos that ensues when they start pulling pranks and rebelling against the difficult and often violent teachers.

LISTEN | Sadi Muktadir onThe Next Chapter:

The Next Chapter13:54Pulling pranks at a Madrasa in Land of No Regrets

Toronto author Sadi Muktadirs debut novel stars Nabil, a reluctant student with a knack for hijinks and who decides to plot his escape from boarding school.

Fawn Parker

Fawn Parker is an author and current PhD student at the University of New Brunswick. Her novelWhat We Both Knowwaslonglisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize in 2022. Her poetry collectionSoft Inheritancewon the Fiddlehead Poetry Book Prize.

• Grieving through the written word: 2 N.B. authors reveal hardships, achievements in recent books

InHi, It's Me,Fawn returns to her mother's farmhouse after her death one that is also inhabited by four other women with interesting and strange beliefs. As she lives in her mother's room and tries to figure out what to do with her possessions, she becomes obsessed with archiving her mother's writing and documents, teaching her more and more about the woman she thought she knew so well.

LISTEN | How Fawn Parker writes about grief:

11:02How Fawn Parker writes about grief

Fawn Parker is a writer whose novel What We Both Know was longlisted for the Giller Prize in 2022. Now, she returns with her debut poetry collection, Soft Inheritance. Fawn tells Tom how her mothers journey with cancer inspired the collection of poems. She also reads one of her poems, Woof.

Amanda Peters

Amanda Peters is a writer of Mi'kmaq and settler ancestry living in Annapolis Valley, N.S. Her debut novelThe Berry Pickerswon theCarnegie Medal of Excellence, was afinalist for the 2023 Atwood Gibson Writers' Trust Fiction Prizeandwas named one of CBC Books' best fiction books of the year. She is the winner of the 2021 Indigenous Voices Award for Unpublished Prose and a participant in the 2021 Writers' Trust Rising Stars program. In 2024, CBC Books named Peters a writer to watch.

• Amanda Peters' new story collection reflects on legacies of trauma and resilience read an excerpt now

Her forthcomingshort story collection,Waiting for the Long Night Moon,draws from her own background to examinelegacies of trauma and resilience.

LISTEN | Amanda Peters on her short story collectionWaiting for the Long Night Moon:

Information Morning - NS7:49N.S. author Amanda Peters on her new collection of short stories

We chat with author Amanda Peters on the heels of her critically-acclaimed novel, "The Berry Picker." She has recently released a collection of short stories about Indigenous life called, "Waiting for the Long Night Moon." Itstretchesfrom the first encounters with settlers, to present day.

NicholasPullen

Nicholas Pullen is a writer based in the Yukon. His short stories have appeared in publications including the Toronto Star, Anti-Heroin Chicand the Copperfield Review Quarterly.The Black Hungeris his first novel.

• Nick Pullen's new novel The Black Hunger takes the reader to some dark places

The Black Hungeris a horror novel that explores human impulses, desiresand history. It follows John Sackville who is stuck in a London cell and knows he's about to die. Reeling from the death of his secret lover and desperate to tell their story before it's too late, John sets out to write his last testament.

Journeying from mystic ruins in Scotland to the soaring mountains of Mongolia and Tibet, John reveals his own story, and the ancient horrors that haunt it.

LISTEN | Nick Pullen discusses The Black Hunger on CBC's Airplay:

Airplay15:18A gothic mystery

Nick Pullen's new novel The Black Hunger takes the reader to some dark places.

Deepa Rajagopalan

Deepa Rajagopalan is an author based in Ontario. Born to Indian parents in Saudi Arabia, she has lived across India, the United States and Canada. Her previous writing has appeared in publications such as theBristol Short Story Prize Anthology, the New Quarterly, Room and Arc.

She was the 2021 RBC/PEN Canada New Voices Award winner.CBC Books named Rajagopalan a writer to watch in 2024.

• Deepa Rajagopalan'sPeacocks of Instagramcasts its lens on South Asian women in the diaspora

The collection of stories in her debut story collectionPeacocks of Instagrampaint a tapestry of the Indian diaspora. Tales of revenge, love, desire and family explore the intense ramifications of privilege, or lack thereof.

Peacocks of Instagramis on the 2024 Giller Prize shortlist.

LISTEN | Deepa Rajagopalan discusses her debut collectionPeacocks of Instagram:

The Next Chapter0:00Truth telling and power dynamics in Peacocks of Instagram

Ontario-based author Deepa Rajagopalans debut short story collection features rule-breaking characters, savvy social media sellers and peafowl.

Brandon Reid

Brandon Reid is a writer whose work has been published in the Barely South Review, the Richmond Review and The Province. He is a member of Heiltsuk First Nation, with a mix of Indigenous and English ancestry. He lives in Richmond, B.C.

Beautiful Beautifulis his first book and is also afinalist for the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize. CBC Books named Reid a writer to watch in 2024.

• Canadian authors Kim Fu and Brandon Reid shortlisted for 2024 William Saroyan International Prize

Beautiful Beautifulis a debut coming-of-age novel that explores the beauty of rural and urban landscapes, his relationship with masculinity and the task of reconciling an Indigenous and Western way of life.

LISTEN | Brandon Reidon his book Beautiful Beautiful:

The Next Chapter4:40Brandon Reid combines two worlds in Beautiful Beautiful

In his debut novel, the B.C.-based author tells a traditional story of a voyage taken by a father and son, accompanied by a mysterious figure called Raven.

Rajinderpal S. Pal

Rajinderpal S. Pal is a writer and stage performer based in Toronto. He has written the poetry collectionspappaji wrote poetry in a language i cannot readandpulse.

• Rajinderpal S. Pal's novel However Far Away dives into a marriage and an affair set at a Sikh wedding

At his nephew's wedding, Devinder Gill will be in the same room as his wife and the mother of his two kids, Kuldip, and his first love Emily who he's been secretly having an affair with.

However Far Awayis set in Vancouver anddetails what happens when a secret threatens to unravel and how the three main characters found themselves in this situation.

LISTEN | Rajinderpal S. Pal discusses his novel However Far Away on The Next Chapter:

The Next Chapter15:20What does it mean to settle?: The question at the heart of Rajinderpal S. Pals debut novel, However Far Away

Set against the backdrop of a Sikh wedding, the Toronto author and poet reflects on the notion of settling and the repercussions of our decisions in his new book.

Anuja Varghese

Anuja Vargheseis a Hamilton, Ont.-based writer and editor. Her stories have been recognized in the Prism International Short Fiction Contest and the Alice Munro Festival Short Story Competition and nominated for the Pushcart Prize.Chrysalisis her first book.

In 2024, Varghese pledged $25,000 to the Dayne Oglivie Prize.

• Anuja Varghese looks at death, life & the shackles of identity in this original short story

Chrysalisis a short story collection that centres South Asian women, showing how they reclaim their power in a world that constantly undermines them. Exploring sexuality, family and cultural norms, this collection deals with desire and transformation.

LISTEN | Anuja Varghese discussesChrysalisonThe Next Chapter:

The Next Chapter13:48Anuja Varghese's short story collection sizzles with desire and transformation

Hamilton-based writer Anuja Varghese shares the inspiration behind her debut short story collection, Chrysalis.