How entering the CBC Nonfiction Prize changed bestselling author Amanda Jetté Knox's life
The 2022 CBC Nonfiction Prize is open for submissions until Feb. 28, 2022 at 11:59 p.m. ET
Amanda Jetté Knox found that they were able to find their voice through entering the CBC Nonfiction Prize.
The Ontario writer, public speaker and LGBTQ advocate had previously thought that their ambition to become a writer seemed too time-consuming for a spouse and mother of four children.
After entering the CBC Nonfiction Prize — even though they didn't win — they felt motivated to expand on the entry and write a debut book based on their family's experiences. Now they are a bestselling author and the memoir Love Lives Here was on the Canada Reads 2020 longlist.
The 2022 CBC Nonfiction Prize is open for submissions until Feb. 28, 2022 at 11:59 p.m. ET. The finalists will be announced in fall 2022.
The CBC Nonfiction Prize recognizes works of original, unpublished nonfiction up to 2,000 words. The winner will receive $6,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts, have the opportunity to attend a two-week writing residency at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity and have their work published on CBC Books.
In 2020, Knox spoke with Gill Deacon, host of CBC Radio's Here & Now, about the CBC Nonfiction Prize and their writing journey.
A family's journey
"If you'd asked me six years ago to tell you about my family, I would have told you that we were a mom, a dad and three boys. That is what I knew and that is what the world saw us as. But I was wrong. Our middle child wrote us an email and came out as trans. She was 11 at the time, she told us that she was in fact a girl. That set us on this journey of self discovery in our entire family. Eighteen months after that, my spouse of 18 years told me that she was a woman.
"We are in a really wonderful relationship today. But it took a lot to get there. That story is all in the book."
Sharing their story
"We started by telling our story on my blog and talking about it on social media. The story was out there, but it wasn't out there in that level of detail. Being able to actually put it in a book, it made us pretty vulnerable. But it also told the full story in a way that is healthy, affirming and respectful. It's taught people a lot, and I think that that was the ultimate goal. We traded some privacy for some awareness.
It gave me the courage to think I could do more of this and it led to a book.
"We hear from people every single day. Every day from around the world, we are hearing from people who are reading this book. It's been worth it and I treasure every single email I get."
Becoming a writer
"Entering the CBC Nonfiction Prize was so scary. I had the idea of entering the contest for a couple of years and every time I was like, 'Oh maybe next year, I don't have time.' But I was just scared. It's a piece that you're putting out there for somebody to review and for somebody to decide if it's worthy. Rejection is hard. But I try to just write from my heart and what I ultimately wanted to do for myself is just prove that I could do it. It didn't matter if I won or not.
"As we know, I didn't even make the longlist. That's okay because that wasn't ultimately the point. It gave me the courage to think I could do more of this and it led to a book."
Advice for aspiring authors
"It's not the writing that's hard — it's talking yourself into doing the writing in the first place that's hard. By moving past that fear stage and that self-doubt stage and getting to the point where I sat down and said, 'No. I'm doing this. I'm doing this big scary thing.' That was the big lesson.
You will not regret it, because the worst that's going to happen is you write this beautiful thing that you created for yourself.
"It's about moving past those barriers and realizing everyone can produce a work of art. For writers, I would say just take a breath, put those self doubts aside and just do it. You will not regret it, because the worst that's going to happen is you write this beautiful thing that you created for yourself. I think that is a masterpiece in itself."
Amanda Jetté Knox's comments have been edited for clarity and length.
