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"Being nominated for the Journey Prize made me feel as if my choice to
be a writer was not entirely wayward. Of course, I had friends who
encouraged me, friends who also wrote (better than I did, some of them),
but . . . there is nothing like the approval of strangers to make you
feel you're on the right track. Not that the nomination was more
important than the opinion of my friends, the (obsessive) reading I did,
the music I listened to, the sheer, ceaseless thinking about writing,
but . . . it simply made me feel I had (at least once) managed to make
my private universe available to those with no vested interest in me
whatsoever. That, a kind of recognition across a divide, gave me a
confidence in the road I had chosen. I might still be mistaken for
devoting my life to writing. There is still time for all to end badly,
but . . . if there is some ledger, some means of tabulating the positive
(on one side) and the negative (on the other), the Journey Prize
nomination is (almost certainly) on the good side of things. . . . In
any case, I am still writing, and I am grateful to James Michener, to
McClelland & Stewart, to the jury that gave me a (sadly brief)
confidence in my work."
-André Alexis
"For storytellers and those brave souls who publish them, the Journey
Prize anthology is a celebration and barometer of new Canadian writing.
Inclusion is its own reward and recognition, and the Prize itself a
windfall shared by some very fine company. I was on an island six
thousand kilometres away when I received word. There could be no finer
homecoming."
-Kevin Armstrong
"I've been thinking about the Journey Prize anthology and, aside from
its being most encouraging to me as a writer, what keeps returning to my
mind is the moment of hearing I was to be in it. News of Journey
inclusion came as the best kind of bizarre. A letter out of the blank
blue of June, saying (in effect): We liked that story of yours so much
we want to give it another airing in a special book, along with a dozen
or so others. You'll be in excellent company. We'll send a cheque to
cover the cost of an excellent single malt to celebrate. Oh, and we're
going to give one of you ten thousand dollars. . . . All RIGHT! That
wonderful postal moment is the essence of it, for me."
-Mike Barnes
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"Way back in 1989, I got lucky with my first published story when it was
selected for the Journey Prize anthology. Then I got lucky three more
times. It is astounding to see how many writers published in the
anthology over the last fifteen years have gone on to publish great
story collections and novels. The anthology is a windfall for both
writer and reader."
-David Bergen
"A great jolt of electricity startles the heart and jump-starts the
writing career when you get the nod from the Journey people. It's a
thrill to find your name included amongst some of the leading new voices
in short fiction."
-Dennis Bock
"I had only just recognized my story 'Wave' as the seed of a novel when
I learned it would be included in the prestigious Journey Prize
anthology. The news thrilled me and, most importantly, came just when I
craved a boost for the huge and scary task of shaping a novel. Once
published, the anthology gave my work more exposure than it had ever had
before, and continues to introduce new, innovative writers to a wider
audience."
-Kristen den Hartog
"The name is felicitous, the company excellent, the honour ongoing. To
have a story selected for the Journey Prize anthology at the beginning
of one's publishing life is like being given a lucky charm for the
uncertain journey ahead. It opens doors (and eyes), provides
encouragement and solace when needed, and offers assurance that there
are indeed those who value the effort and artistry involved. This
marvellous annual collection heralds and celebrates exciting new talent,
and lets that talent know a steadily growing audience is waiting, and
listening."
-Terry Griggs
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"What a thrill! A yes instead of a no. I had done something right, and
now I would have to figure out what it was."
-Elizabeth Hay
"I remember feeling ratified, authenticated, which of course was an
illusion; no journal or anthology or prize ever proves you a real writer
(whatever that is). But being chosen for an important anthology like the
Journey Prize gave me a lift when I especially needed one, and I think
of that with gratitude, admiration."
-Steven Heighton
"The writing apprenticeship is a long one, perhaps never-ending, and an
appearance in the Journey Prize anthology is a boost of encouragement
along the way. I am especially pleased that several of my former
students have been included. Bravo for continuing to celebrate this
challenging and exact genre - the story in its short form."
-Frances Itani
"The telegram, the telephone call, the electric jolt of a shot at
$10,000 for a story and a banner unfurling in your brain. What are the
odds? Very good odds, an antidote to discouraging words, to be
acknowledged, a visitation in the boondock wilderness - no one knows you
- hidden deep in the gymnasium's wallflower shadows and asked to dance.
You step forward. The telegram, the telephone ringing, an electric
jolt, and you float over the provinces, tickled pink as your map of
Canada."
-Mark Anthony Jarman
"Being in the Journey Prize anthology - alongside all those other
cakewalking babies - emboldened me enough to feel I could keep pursuing
the kind of stories I really wanted to tell. Each year's anthology is
like a kind of boulevard of promise, with the bright lights of so many
fully developed, book-length works to come - by interesting, gifted
writers - winking just up the road."
-Elise Levine
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"Seeing my story 'Lessons from the Sputnik Diner' in the pages of the
Journey Prize anthology was unforgettable. As a young writer, to be
included in any anthology is something. To be chosen for a prestigious
anthology that's featured writers whom you recognize and admire gives
you quite a buzz. To know you are part of something that's become an
institution in Canadian literature, providing an early venue for writers
who often go on to be forces in the creative and imaginary life of this
country, that's even further up a joyous road. Even if you are not
familiar with its origins, there's no better name for the prize than
Journey."
-Rick Maddocks
"In a matter of a few years, the Journey Prize anthology has become the
proving ground for new, young Canadian writers, a who's who of the
coming generation. You've been published in this and that literary
review, great - but have you been published in the Journey Prize
anthology? For many young writers (myself included), it's their first
appearance in a 'real' book by a 'real' publisher. After that, letters
from editors get a lot more polite, even if they're rejections. The
Journey Prize anthology is important to young writers because it is
unique. There's nothing else like it in Canada. Writers who are 'big,'
'established,' 'older,' 'mature' - whatever you want to call them - have
a panoply of prizes to honour them. . . . But for young writers, it's
the Journey Prize or nothing. . . . I, for one, owe everything to the
Journey Prize; I don't mean the money - I mean the attention, the
publicity, the boost in confidence. . . . For obvious reasons, I
remember the Journey Prize with fondness. It got the ball rolling for
me."
-Yann Martel
"Congratulations on the fifteenth anniversary of the Journey Prize
anthology. Inclusion of one of my stories - an excerpt from my
novel-in-progress Your Mouth Is Lovely - was a source of great
encouragement to me and a real thrill as well. Writing is always a
solitary endeavour but at the beginning of a writing career it is also
often an isolated one. There is no guarantee, ever, that a writer's work
will be read and recognized, and as a beginning writer there are many
moments of self-doubt in this regard. Inclusion in the Journey Prize
anthology was invaluable to me in terms of the encouragement and boost
in morale that it offered me. I have to add that I also appreciate the
Journey Prize anthology as a reader. I buy it every year and read it
cover to cover with great pleasure and interest. My thanks to McClelland
& Stewart for publishing it, and may it be with us for many years to
come."
-Nancy Richler
"I remember buying twenty copies of the fourth Journey Prize anthology,
and giving them out to family for Christmas with my story helpfully
Post-it marked. I finally got up the courage to ask a cousin what he
thought of it, and he said, 'Yeah. It was long. Didn't finish it.' Which
seemed to be the reaction of most of my family, except for my mom and
dad, who kept their copy on the coffee table. The press and the
attention I received from being in the anthology were important to my
career, but not as crucial as my family finally referring to me as The
Writer instead of The Most Educated Bum in Kitamaat Village."
-Eden Robinson
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"When the Journey Prize was established in 1989, I recall reading a
Globe & Mail article about the first winner, Holley Rubinsky. I never
thought I'd have a short story included in the Journey Prize anthology
eight years later. The door that opened for me in 1997 - one I imagined
was a huge, locked door that might have been custom-made for the gods in
Valhalla - stayed open. And I'm still a bit amazed that the door opened
and that it has remained open since then."
-Anne Simpson
"Quite a few years before I would have dared call myself a writer in
public, while I was still working at a bank, I began to buy the Journey
Prize anthology yearly. I did so because I understood it to collect the
best new short fiction of the year, and I hoped quietly that I would be
inspired. One afternoon, a colleague caught me reading the anthology at
my desk. Knowing a little about my literary interests, he asked bluntly:
Are you in it this year? I wasn't, and I said so. But after he left my
office, I remember my astonishment, my disbelief at his suggestion.
These are 'real' writers (I wanted to shout), and while I aspire in the
same direction, I have yet to publish a single story! About eight years
later, I was included in the anthology and I remembered my colleague. It
occurred to me that - despite the years I'd been at it and the stories
that had since been published - nothing up to that point had convinced
me that I could be a real writer. And while I remained astonished to see
my name in those pages, the Journey Prize anthology now marked a
beginning in which I could really believe. I've continued to read the
anthology, and count it as an honour to have adjudicated during its
fifteenth year. To me, its ongoing contribution is found on every page:
new writers, new voices, new confidence."
-Timothy Taylor
"'Simple Recipes' was my first published story, and the one that, to my
utter amazement, made it into the Journey Prize anthology. I remember
getting the phone call, and remember sitting on the couch for a long
time staring at the wall. I had a strange sense of vertigo, to think
that it might actually be possible to one day write a book, and for that
book one day to find readers. I had always quietly hoped for that
possibility, but hadn't really thought about it within the boundaries of
reality until that day."
-Madeleine Thien
"After a decade of writing fiction, I find to my amazement that the
greatest imaginative feat required of me thus far has been the
conception of myself as a writer. Every published story helped, but the
day I learned my work was to be included in the eleventh volume of the
Journey Prize anthology - and thereby in a national tradition of
literary discovery - was the day when the writer I had long been
imagining finally began to seem real."
-Alissa York
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Keep checking this site for the latest news on the Journey Prize and The
Journey Prize Stories.
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