Eggs, Ghosts, and Literary Magic: "Sticks and Stones" Contest Winners Announced!
Who knew egg-reading could predict not just breakfast outcomes, but literary victories? Toronto author Kevin Wilson's "Ovomancy"—a deliciously clever tale where a lawyer's lunchtime ritual serves up a side of karmic justice—has claimed top honours (and a tasty $300+ prize) in the CHP joint contest with Blank Spaces magazine.
Special judge E. Yvonne Pelletier selected Wilson's story from an impressive shortlist of eight finalists, praising its beautiful structure and nuanced exploration of masculinity. Wilson, whose novel An Idea About my Dead Uncle won the 2018 Guernica Prize and whose Call Me Stan: A Tragedy in Three Millennia made the 2022 Leacock Medal longlist, keeps good company among our finalists. Honorable mentions go to Tara Ross's "Hatchling" and Katrine Raymond's "Keepsakes."
Featuring a foreword by E. Yvonne Pelletier and short fiction by Nikki Berreth, Rose Camara, Andrea Marcelino, Cornelia Mars, E. J. Nash, Katrine Raymond, Tara Ross, and K. R. Wilson.
In this masterful collection of short fiction from some of Canada's brightest literary voices, eight stories explore the delicate intersection of trauma, healing, and the bonds that both break and save us. Sticks and Stones delves deep into the landscapes of loss and recovery, it threads together themes of inheritance—both genetic and emotional—and it offers stories to remind us that what breaks us can also reveal our true strength, and that sometimes, the heaviest stones we carry are the ones that build our path to healing.
Selected from a large pool of submissions, these eight stories showcase the depth and diversity of Canadian literary talent, each one a testament to the power of confronting our deepest fears and finding connection in our shared human experience.
The December 11 Zoom gathering, hosted by Blank Spaces Editor-in-Chief (and CHP owner) Alanna Rusnak, gave a tantalizing preview of what's to come in the Sticks and Stones anthology (landing April 2025). From spectral visitors bearing uncomfortable truths to secret gardens hiding family secrets, these eight stories explore how the things that break us often forge our strongest paths to healing.
The selection process was as rigorous as a turtle's journey to sea—just wait until you read about the mother who finds wisdom in exactly that! Rusnak curated an initial longlist of 20 stories, before a jury of five narrowed it down to the exceptional eight that will appear in the anthology.
Mark your calendars for April 2025—this collection of contemporary Canadian voices being published under the Chicken House Press imprint promises to be as multifaceted as the crystals in your favourite meditation kit, but with more ghosts, eggs, and profound revelations about the human heart.
Watch the Zoom event replay and enjoy the excerpt readings by each of the eight finalists.
