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Literary Prizes

Glow by Linda Kingston

The Ottawa-based writer is on the 2025 CBC Short Story Prize longlist

The Ottawa-based writer is on the 2025 CBC Short Story Prize longlist

CBC Books ·
A woman wearing a sun hat is smiling at the camera.
Linda Kingston is a writer from Ottawa. (Submitted by Linda Kingston)

 Linda Kingston has made the 2025 CBC Short Story Prize longlist for Glow. 

The winner of the 2025 CBC Short Story Prize will receive $6,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts, a two-week writing residency at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity and their work will be published on CBC Books. The four remaining finalists will each receive $1,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts and have their work published on CBC Books.

The shortlist will be announced on April 10 and the winner will be announced on April 17. 

If you're interested in other CBC Literary Prizes, the 2025 CBC Poetry Prize is currently accepting submissions. You can submit an original, unpublished poem or collection of poems from April 1-June 1.

The 2026 CBC Short Story Prize will open in September and the 2026 CBC Nonfiction Prize will open in January. 

About Linda Kingston

Linda Kingston grew up in Hawkesbury, Ont., near the Québec border. She studied at York and the University of Victoria and has worked as a writer and editor in Ottawa, where she lives with her husband. She has previously been shortlisted for the Malahat Review Far Horizons Award for Short Fiction and is working on a collection of stories, mostly about bad jobs.

Entry in five-ish words

"Kid sister explains teen's disappearance."

The short story's source of inspiration

"I was thinking about my sister while walking home one day. I often think about us playing together as kids, pretending we were rock stars, making up stories. She died of breast cancer a few years ago. So many of us have lost our sisters, in one way or another, way too young. Sometimes, it doesn't seem real. She's the person I always wrote for."

First lines

It was just about there, a little further up the road, past the roundabout and through the path leading up to the Experimental Farm. We used to joke about the farm, that you could find three-headed cows, and sheep with chicken feet, but it's really just a place the government uses for research. We went a couple of times with my parents; you can pet the animals, regular ones, and visit some pretty flower gardens. Kids my sister's age hang out on the grounds after dark. You can cut through it if you're headed to the apartment buildings a few streets over. Just up there, there's a lot of room to land a space craft.

Check out the rest of the longlist

The longlist was selected from more than 2,300 entries. A team of 12 writers and editors from across Canada compiled the list. 

The jury selects the shortlist and the eventual winner from the readers' longlisted selections. This year's jury is composed of Conor Kerr, Kudakwashe Rutendo and Michael Christie. 

The complete list is: 

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