PRISM is proud to announce the winning pieces from our 2022 Jacob Zilber Prize along with Heather O’Neill’s judge’s essay.
Heather O’Neill is a novelist, essayist, and short story writer. She is the writer of favourites like Lullabies for Little Criminals and The Lonely Hearts Hotel. Her latest book, When We Lost Our Heads, is available now.
Judge’s Essay
What a marvelous time I had reading the stories that were sent to me. I was surprised by the quality of the prose and the fierceness of themes. Each had a voice that was original and unique and startling. Choosing the short list and winner was not an easy decision. And, as with any prize I judge, I am always worried I have not chosen the right ones. And, indeed, one can never choose a perfect winner. There is no such thing. What I do know is that each of the stories chosen contains a crafted universe that surprised me and expanded my idea of love and human connection. And for that, I was grateful and rewarded them with spots on the list.
“The Glory of Dirt” follows a young woman named Lenny who describes herself in a manner which seems antithetical to femininity. She finds herself to be filthy and vulgar and perverse. The language of the story is shocking and abrasive and beautiful. The author uses perfect pathetic details to construct her world. Listen to the beauty of this line: She is standing across the street behind the dirty glass of a bus shelter, the busses sulk every time they kneel and she does not board. It is also filled with moments of hilarity as when a flock of pigeons released at her sister’s wedding attack her. To embrace the ugliness of being a woman is an attempt to live outside the societal constructions of beauty and the male gaze, and there is a deeper more personal freedom to be had in this repulsive femininity.
“If It Wasn’t For the Nights” is a beautiful heartbreaking story that is brimming with love. It is the story of a woman in Toronto who misses her father’s funeral because she has been ostracized from her family for being gay. She dreams of him every night, in marvelous detail, sometimes alive, sometimes lying in a coffin. Her fiancée’s mother comes for a visit. Although she is also confused and upset by her daughter’s sexuality, she is trying to accept it, and by the end can’t help but offer up a mother’s love to her new daughter-in-law. It is a complicated story about leaving home and becoming one’s true self, while struggling to keep all the love and traditions from the world you left behind.
“Shifting Baselines” is a stylistically inventive story about a woman’s depression. The narrator’s psyche and physical health begin to deteriorate in a way that mirrors the climate change news she is following. She becomes more and more littered with chip bags that threaten to bury her on the couch. When lying in the bathtub, her body begins to turn sponge like. This is a pitch perfect and courageous analogy of the ways in which women and the planet are threatened by a senseless and destructive modern world.
Here are the writers! Click the story titles read these fantastic pieces.
Grand Prize
“The Glory of Dirt” by Neal Giannone
Neal Giannone is a writer and teacher from Vancouver, BC. His work has appeared in Joyland, Vancouver, and elsewhere. He studied fiction at Cornell University, where he also taught courses in fiction, poetry, and autofiction. He is currently a PhD student in Creative and Critical Writing at the University of East Anglia, in the UK.
Runner-Up
“If It Wasn’t For the Nights” by Chido Muchemwa
Chido Muchemwa is a Zimbabwean writer currently living in Canada. Her work has previously appeared in The Baltimore Review, Catapult, Canthius, Humber Literary Review, and Lolwe and other places. She has been shortlisted twice for the Short Story Day Africa Prize and placed 2nd in the Humber Literary Review’s 2020 Emerging Writers Fiction Contest. She has an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Wyoming.
2nd Runner-Up
“Shifting Baselines” by Rachel Shabalin
Rachel Shabalin is a writer and editor living in Mohkinstsis (Calgary, Canada). Her work has appeared in the Minola Review, untethered, Dream Pop Journal, subTerrain, and others. Her non-fiction was shortlisted for Room‘s CNF Contest in 2020. She is currently working on a short story collection.
Many thanks to Heather O’Neill for the care and diligence necessary to choose these three winning pieces. Congratulations again to Neal, Chido, and Rachel!
There’s still time to submit to The Grouse Grind Lit Prize for V. Short Forms. We want to see your best stories under 300 words before the April 15th deadline!