Congratulations to Sasha Boczkowski!
Shani Mootoo read the stories from finalists Sasha Bczkowski, Lukas Bhandar and Llew Forestell. “This is one of those hard decisions,” she said. “Three very, very good works.” She finally selected “Birds,” by Sasha Boczkowski. “This story so brilliantly runs against the line of her grandmother’s experience and resistance in a concentration camp, and is a literary, beautifully metaphoric rendering of unjust incarceration.”
Shani looks forward to working with Sasha, encouraging her and supporting her as a writer.
Thank you for all the fantastic submissions! The next Emerging Writer Mentorship Award will be for creative non-fiction. Submissions will open later this year.
Shani Mootoo. Photo Graham Davies.
Shani Mootoo is the much-loved author of the novels Cereus Blooms at Night, which was shortlisted for the Giller Prize and longlisted for the Man Booker Prize; He Drown She in the Sea, which was longlisted for the Dublin IMPAC Literary Award; and Valmiki’s Daughter, which was longlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize. Her most recent novel, Moving Forward Sideways Like a Crab,was also longlisted for the Giller. Mootoo was born in Ireland and grew up in Trinidad. She immigrated to Vancouver more than thirty years ago, and now lives near Toronto.
