Anuja Varghese among 5 writers nominated for $10K LGBTQ emerging writers prize
Gabriel Cholette, E. S. Taillon, Amanda Cordner and David di Giovanni are also finalists
Anuja Varghese is among the finalists of the Writers' Trust of Canada's $10,000 Dayne Ogilvie Prize for LGBTQ emerging writers.
The annual award is presented to an author of a debut book of any genre who identifies as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or two-spirit.
The remaining finalists will each receive $1,000. Translators will receive a portion of the prize money.
Varghese is a Hamilton, Ont.-based writer and editor. Her short story collection Chrysalis blends realism and fantasy to explore the intersections of race, sexuality and family. Varghese tells stories of a woman dying in her sleep repeatedly until she ultimately finds refuge and reclamation.
"Chrysalis is an electric array of queer, feminist, and mythical short stories," the jury said in a statement. "These are not typical diasporic stories of food, identity, and belonging, but rather ones that weave together thematic complexities of the historical horrors of colonialism with queerness and joy."
Montreal writer Gabriel Cholette and his translator E. S. Taillon are nominated for Scenes from the Underground. Filled with colourful illustrations by Montreal artist Jacob Pyne, this book of vignettes follows a PhD student in medieval studies as he explores the clubs and raves that embody queer nightlife.
"This memoir gives us the chance to read about experiences that are totally, unapologetically, and sensually queer," stated the jury. "With these explosive fragments, Cholette manages to approach with kindness the consumption of bodies and substances, transforming excess into forms of care and emancipation."
Toronto writers Amanda Cordner and David di Giovanni are nominated for their book based on the theatrical performance of Body So Fluorescent. The story centres two friends Desiree and Gary as they reflect on their friendship and what went wrong in a narrative about Blackness and appropriation.
"Body So Fluorescent is a sharp, rousing intervention into issues of racism within queer communities," said the jury. "By turns entertaining, titillating, and upsetting, the play draws the reader into an examination of their own resistance to, or complicity with, the particularities of anti-Blackness in queer spaces."
The 2023 Dayne Ogilvie winner will be announced at the Writers' Trust Awards on Nov. 21, 2023.
This year's finalists were selected by a three-person jury of writers: S. Bear Bergman, Nicholas Dawson and Sharanpal Ruprai.
francesca ekweyasi won the prize in 2022 for Butter Honey Pig Bread.
Other previous winners include Kai Cheng Thom, Ben Ladouceur, Farzana Doctor and Zoe Whittall.
The Writers' Trust of Canada is an organization that supports Canadian writers through literary awards, fellowships, financial grants, mentorships and more.
It also gives out seven prizes in recognition of the year's best in fiction, nonfiction and short story, as well as mid-career and lifetime achievement awards.
The organization was founded in 1976 by Margaret Atwood, Pierre Berton, Graeme Gibson, Margaret Laurence and David Young. The Dayne Ogilvie Prize began in 2007 by Robin Pacific in remembrance of her late friend and editor.
