The Journey Prize Stories 27

“Expect pleasure. Expect delight. Expect surprise. Expect these twelve writers to emerge as some of this country’s most interesting voices.” Anthony De Sa, Tanis Rideout, and Carrie Snyder (from their Introduction) The celebrated annual collection showcasing the best stories by the best new writers in Canada, all contenders for the prestigious $10,000 Writers’ Trust of Canada/McClelland & Stewart Journey Prize. A must-read for anyone looking for exciting new voices in Canadian fiction. For three decades, this acclaimed annual anthology has introduced readers to the next generation of great Canadian writers. With settings ranging from a small-town hobby farm to the streets of Hong Kong, from a dance club in 1979 to the years after the end of the world, the twelve stories in this collection represent the year’s best short fiction by some of our most exciting emerging writers. Among the stories this year: When Mercy Beatrice decides to seek out her long-lost father against the advice of her late pro-wrestler mother, she discovers that wrestling may be in her blood. After her dying husband makes a surprising wish, a woman sets herself the task of finding him a lover. A young man—lost and craving reinvention—makes the unlikely trip back to his hometown after he inherits his uncle’s farm. In a touching story about the intersection between Chinese tradition and modern expectations, a woman must weigh the possibilities in her own life when her family prepares for the naming ceremony for her cousin’s month-old baby. A philosophy student struggling with a broken heart and the meaning of Being must also contend with her new neighbours and their wildly precocious infant. Two travellers in desperate straits look for refuge on a remote Italian farm that proves to be anything but idyllic. The stories included in the anthology are contenders for the $10,000 Journey Prize, which is made possible by Pulitzer Prize-winning author James A. Michener's donation of Canadian royalties from his novel Journey. The 2015 winner will be announced by the Writers' Trust of Canada on November 3, 2015. For more information: www.facebook.com/TheJourneyPrize

The celebrated annual fiction collection showcasing the best stories by the best new writers in Canada, all contenders for the prestigious $10,000 Writers' Trust of Canada/McClelland & Stewart Journey Prize. Like the O. Henry Prize Stories, The Pushcart Prize, and the Best American Short Stories series, The Journey Prize Stories is one of the most celebrated annual literary anthologies in North America. But what makes it unique is its commitment to showcasing the best short stories published each year by some of Canada's most exciting new and emerging writers. For more than 25 years, the anthology has consistently introduced readers to the next generation of great Canadian authors, a tradition that proudly continues with this latest edition. The stories included in the anthology are contenders for the $10,000 Journey Prize, which is made possible by Pulitzer Prize-winning author James A. Michener's donation of Canadian royalties from his novel Journey. The 2016 winner will be announced by the Writers' Trust of Canada in November 2016.

For more than three decades, The Journey Prize Stories has been Canada's most celebrated annual fiction anthology and a who's-who of up-and-coming writers. With settings ranging from a wildlife rescue centre to a Living Body exhibit, the thirteen stories in this collection represent the year's best short fiction by some of our most exciting emerging literary talents. On Sunday afternoons, a coven of teenagers gathers at The Lois Lanes bowling alley to discuss their shared obsession with the second hottest boy in school. A patient joins her therapist and her therapist's granddaughter for an unconventional session--a field trip to confront the reviled Feed Machine. Troubled by dreams and trailed by crows, a woman far from home struggles to confront an old guilt. As a half-remembered Beach Boys song plays in the background, a daughter recalls the man her father used to be through a tender inventory of their time together. In a community plagued by petrochemical-induced diseases and environmental ruin, a man spends his nights caring for his dying partner and his days navigating a dangerous workplace. An android watches her creators' relationship break down before her eyes. A gang of girls roams the streets of a ravaged city, hunting their would-be predators. In her journey to become a woman and a healer, a Cree girl enters the woods alone to learn the stories and medicines of plants, only to be transformed by an unexpected connection. The stories included in this volume are contenders for the $10,000 Writers' Trust McClelland & Stewart Journey Prize.

For more than twenty-five years, The Journey Prize Stories has been Canada’s most celebrated annual fiction anthology and a who’s who of up-and-coming writers. With settings ranging from Toronto’s Royal Conservatory of Music to a hospital ward in Thailand, from British Columbia’s Burrard Inlet to St. John’s Bowring Park, the stories in this collection represent the year’s best short fiction by some of our most exciting new writers. Among the stories this year: A woman’s quest to trend on social media blinds her to her inability to connect with her own adult daughter. The delicate equilibrium maintained by a newly pregnant expat living in Israel is shattered when a missile lands in her backyard. An unusual guide to caring for an exotic pet highlights the many opportunities owners will have to learn valuable life lessons – beginning with the pet’s death. The tender relationship between two musical prodigies is no match for the machinations of the adult world. After a woman returns to her parents’ house to recuperate from a life-changing surgery, she discovers how difficult it is for others to accept who she has become. A terrible act of cruelty forces the tensions between two workers at a fish processing plant to spill out into the surrounding waters. When a former couple has a chance encounter on a B.C. ferry, old grievances and desires alike resurface with surprising results.

For more than thirty years, this celebrated anthology has introduced readers to the next generation of great Canadian writers. With settings ranging from a Saskatchewan wheat field marked by crop circles to a dystopian metropolis where people are under constant surveillance, the twelve stories in this collection represent the year's best short fiction by some of our most exciting emerging voices. An aspiring artist looking for inspiration in the "aliveness of the desert" gets less--and more--than she bargained for when she signs up for a residency at a roadside motel. After years of toiling to pay off a debt that has devastated his family, a young Chinese fisherman makes a magical catch that will change the course of his life. As a populist candidate stands poised to triumph at a political convention, his campaign strategist and childhood best friend reflects on the dark legacy of their relationship. A brutal assault on a Toronto taxi driver leads his friend on a desperate search for answers. When troubling stories of women's encounters with aliens start to dominate the news cycle, a reporter reluctantly returns to her hometown to cover the phenomenon. A carpet collector reimagines his family's fractured history by weaving new tapestries to tell their stories. Unsure of whether his client is really dying, an end-of-life gift professional must assess the man's extravagant last wish. A Ktunaxa grandmother tells a parable of why you shouldn't speak to Kupi (owl) at night.

This much-anticipated, game-changing special edition of Canada's premier annual fiction anthology celebrates the country's best emerging Black writers. For over thirty years, The Journey Prize Stories has consistently introduced readers to the next generation of great Canadian writers. The 33rd edition of Canada's most prestigious annual fiction anthology proudly continues this tradition by celebrating the best emerging Black writers in the country, as selected by a jury comprising internationally acclaimed, award-winning writers David Chariandy, Esi Edugyan, and Canisia Lubrin. An eagle-eyed mother and a hungry child contend with the aftereffects of an unusual multi-course meal. Both the debts of the past and the promise of the future hover over two siblings as they debate what to do with an unexpected windfall. A pesky but beloved baboon looms large in the memory of a daughter whose family has been forced to move to a new town. Unclear boundaries and cheerful hypocrisy dominate a woman’s whirlwind romance with a photographer. A schoolgirl contends with complicated emotions as she awaits the return of her long-absent mother. News of a hunter’s death reverberates throughout his family, travelling across oceans and phonelines to trouble his cousin’s already-shaky relationship. An office worker joins a lost grandmother on an unexpected pilgrimage. After years away, a woman journeys back to Jamaica—and back to the sister who refused to leave with her—stirring up insecurities, laughter, and wounds unhealed by time. All the instructions in the world cannot protect a family from the impacts of grief. The only Black girls in school experiment with what it means to be a lady when you’re not yet a woman.