Relaying a bit of good news. A story called ‘Ata Vica’ won third place in Grain’s Short Grain Contest and has been published in the Grain 50.1 Fall 2023 edition. Very thankful to Cheryl and Henry Kloppenburg for sponsoring this contest, and to the Saskatchewan Writers’ Guild for support of the award and of the magazine.

This is the second year running I’ve won 3rd place in the Short Grain Contest; last year it was for a story called “Titan Arum”. Being published by such a journal is incredibly meaningful, and a significant honour. Thank you so much, Grain.

I love Grain’s tagline: The Journal of Eclectic Writing. I think of myself as eclectic in my writing, and then remind myself to stay humble. Every writer more than likely thinks they’re eclectic. I’d like to take the tagline that much further and dwell in spaces that genres can’t hold, nor the literary.

The story is about a small family that’s newish to Canada, and what their adjustment to this new reality has been like – how they’ve changed, and how they continue to change as they encounter this new land and its new people. But as with all stories of arrival, there are surprises to how the journey progresses, and how far they’ve actually come. Here are some words from the Grain judge, Leona Theis:

“When, and how, does a family sense they’ve arrived in a country that’s new to them? How many years does it take, and how does that moment look and feel? In ‘Ata Vica’, those questions – and their unlikely answers – arrive on a stream of vividly evoked sights, sounds, smells, and tastes – chunks of radish that taste like an infection, the slap of a grandmother’s slippers on tile, the reek of exhaust. These bring me into the world of the story, as does the poignant portrait of a father who reaches for cool with his sunglasses, his stubble, and his lifeless set of sandals.”

Also I can say is: cool. So cool.

I hope you read the story. If so, I’d love to hear your feedback.