Victoria-based author and poet Jenny Boychuk is the winner of the CBC’s Nonfiction Prize for 2019 for her work Slow Violence.
The story was chosen for the grand prize from among 2200 works from across Canada.
“Slow Violence draws the reader into a world in which the desire for revenge is lost to the healing power of mercy,” said the the panel of judges including writers Harold R. Johnson, Elizabeth Renzetti and Mark Sakamoto.
“As is almost always the case, the perpetrator is a victim and his victim, also a perpetrator. This is a beautifully written story of grace. It is a story we all need.”
Other finalists included Larry Gibbs for The Boondock Harvest 1966, Kathleen May de Vries for The Long Driveway, Tracey McGillivray for To the Uninitiated and Emily Stillwell for The Birthday Party.
Boychuk, who was born in Revelstoke, graduated from the University of Victoria’s Department of Writing. She also holds an MFA from the University of Michigan.
“I’m grateful beyond words,” she wrote on Twitter following the announcement.
The win means she will get $6000 from the Canada Council for the Arts and her story will be published on CBC Books.
You can read Jenny Boychuk’s Slow Violence here
Ahhh! Thank you, @cbcbooks @CanadaCouncil and @banffcentre I’m grateful beyond words. https://t.co/DQG0x2HozK
— Jenny Boychuk (@jennyboychuk) September 25, 2019
CHEK News
