Bloomfield resident shortlisted for CBC Books non-fiction prize

Jane Ozkowski, of Bloomfield

The start of a book-length project focusing on the challenges of conceiving a child as a queer couple, has been short-listed for this year’s CBC Books non-fiction prize. Jane Ozkowski’s work Storkatorium is among five selected from more than 1,700 entries received from across Canada.

CBC BOOKS, CBC’s online home for literary content, together with its partners the Canada Council for the Arts and Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, announced the finalists for the 2022 CBC Nonfiction Prize this week:

With Ozkowski’s Storkatorium, are:
Your House by Cayenne Bradley (Victoria, B.C.)
Advice to a New Beekeeper by Susan Cormier (Langley, B.C.)
Seh Woo, My Teeth by Kerissa Dickie (Fort Nelson, B.C.)
Tek Tek by Y. S. Lee (Kingston, Ont.)

The public can click here to read the shortlisted stories on cbcbooks.ca. 

Ozkowski splits her time between writing and renovating vintage campers. Her writing has appeared in the National Post, VICE, on the Walrus Blog and in a variety of other print and online publications. Her YA novel, Watching Traffic, was published by Groundwood books.

She told CBC Books about the inspiration behind her story.

“My wife and I have been working with a fertility clinic for over a year now and every step has been a challenge. From trying to navigate a bureaucratic system clearly not set up for queer people, to endless miscommunications, to interactions where I’ve felt treated as far less than human, what I thought would be a special and beautiful experience has turned into something frustrating and disheartening.

“In writing Storkatorium, I wanted to vent some of my early frustrations with the fertility process while holding on to what my wife and I are working towards. I wanted to take some of the heartache we’ve felt so far and turn it into something beautiful to remind us that there will be an end, and it will all be worth it.”

The grand prize winner is to be announced Sept. 22.

In addition to a cash prize of $6,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts, the grand prize winner will receive a two-week writing residency at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity and will be published on the CBC Books website. The four other finalists will each receive $1,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts and will be published on CBC Books.