Friday, March 11th, 2011
….winner of the Edna Award for Creative Nonfiction from The New Quarterly. I was the judge. The award was presented last night in Toronto. I guarantee that Heather’s piece, “The Mr. Shredder Man,” will make you laugh even as it shreds your heart. It’s wry, wise, and beautifully wrought. You can find it in The New Quarterly Xtra.
My task was to pick just one winner from a selection of thirteen of the best nonfiction pieces published in the previous year. I had a hard time narrowing the field. So congratulations also to The New Quarterly’s many wonderful nonfiction contributors, and to editor Kim Jernigan, for consistently publishing such interesting work.
Tags: Awards, Creative Nonfiction, Literary Journals
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Wednesday, November 17th, 2010
I’m proud to say that an essay of mine, “Library Haunting” has placed in The New Quarterly’s first essay contest, named in honour of Edna Staebler. You can find it in the latest issue, along with first place winner Theresa Kishkan’s magnificent piece. It’s called “Arbutus menziesii: The make-up secrets of the Byzantine Madonnas,” and if that doesn’t pique your interest, you’re crazy. Her essay is beautiful, thoughtful, surprising, and deep—everything an essay ought to be. You’ll also find a fresh, funny, and honest piece on early motherhood by Kerry Clare, whose reviews and interviews with authors I’ve been following with interest for some time. It’s an honour to appear here with both of them.
The entire issue is packed with great stuff, including prize-winning poems by Jeanette Lynes, Patricia Young, and Kerry Ryan, fiction by Isabel Huggan, Holley Rubinsky, and Jessica Westhead, a reminiscence by the wonderful Sarah Selecky, an introduction to A.J. Somerset, winner of this year’s Metcalf Rooke award, and a series of amazing portraits of writers by Alan Drayton.
I was fortunate enough to win the inaugural Edna Staebler prize from TNQ in 2008. Then, it was not a contest; instead, judges chose from a selection of nonfiction published in the journal during the previous year. So the prize came as a total shock.
It was just before Christmas, a Friday evening, and I was sitting down to supper with my family, when the doorbell rang. With some irritation (imagining it was somebody soliciting for something or other) I went to answer. The mailman handed me a package. I looked at the return address and wondered why in heaven’s name Kim Jernigan would be sending me something at this time of year. I was pretty sure I had already received my issue of the magazine, and besides, this was heavier.
I opened it up to find two cookbooks by Edna Staebler. Two cookbooks that my mother’s friends had used back in the 80s. What the heck?
And then I found the envelope. In it, the most generous letter imaginable from Kim, generous words from that year’s judge, Elizabeth Ruth, and an even more generous cheque.
What better Christmas gift, for a writer?
Thank you, again, New Quarterly, for the continuously evolving gift of new and exciting writing.
Tags: Awards, Essays, Journals, The New Quarterly
Posted in Awards, Blogs, Creative Nonfiction, Essays | 2 Comments »
Tuesday, April 27th, 2010
From the press release:
Susan Olding’s Pathologies wins second annual CNFC Readers’ Choice Award
April 26, 2010
Banff, Alberta
The Creative Nonfiction Collective (CNFC) announced the winner of its second Readers’ Choice Award at a ceremony at The Banff Centre on Saturday, April 24, 2010. After readings from the works of seven Canadian nonfiction authors, the members of the CNFC, a national writers’ organization, voted to name Susan Olding as winner at the annual Readers’ Choice Awards.
Tags: Awards, Creative Nonfiction Collective, Pathologies: A Life in Essays
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Friday, February 12th, 2010
I’m a bit slow to learn this, but there it is. Also listed are fellow Freehanders Saleema Nawaz and Stuart Ross. Go team!
Tags: Awards
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Monday, February 8th, 2010
The press release is here.
I think the book is worthy of the attention it has received. It’s a profoundly moving yet unsentimental account of life with a disabled child, and a sometimes disquieting investigation into the meaning of disability in our culture. It is also one of the most honest love stories I’ve ever read. Congratulations to Ian Brown for his achievement.
Tags: Awards
Posted in Awards, Creative Nonfiction | 1 Comment »
