“Considering the number of popular and prize-winning writers who have a Journey Prize as part of their resume, it’s no exaggeration to suggest that this volume is the future of Canadian writing. . . . And the future seems bright indeed.” —Robert Wiersema, Ottawa Citizen
The Journey Prize Stories is widely celebrated as the premiere showcase for new writing in Canada, and a virtual who’s who of up-and-coming literary talents. Readers of the anthology have consistently been among the first to discover such now well-known writers as André Alexis, David Bergen, Michael Crummey, Elizabeth Hay, Yann Martel, Lisa Moore, Heather O’Neill, Eden Robinson, Neil Smith, Timothy Taylor, Madeleine Thien, M.G. Vassanji, and Alissa York, among many others. With this twentieth edition, featuring an introduction by the jury and comments from a stellar group of high-profile past contributors, The Journey Prize Stories continues to take the pulse of Canada’s literary scene.

The stories included in the anthology are contenders for the $1,000 Writers’ Trust McClelland & Stewart Journey Prize.

Celia Barker Lottridge is a writer and storyteller who has written several highly acclaimed children's books, including Ticket to Curlew (winner of the Canadian Library Association Book of the Year for Children Award and the Geoffrey Bilson Historical Fiction Award), Berta: A Remarkable Dog (nominated for the Texas Bluebonnet Award, Horn Book starred review) and Stories form the Life of Jesus (Publisher's Weekly starred review). She wrote Home Is Beyond the Mountains after hearing her mother's stories about growing up in Persia and after reading letter's written by Celia's aunt, Susan Shedd. Born in Iowa and raised in the United States, Celia now lives in Toronto.

Various' profile page

Lynn Coady is a novelist and essayist whose fiction has been garnering acclaim since her first novel, Strange Heaven, was published and subsequently nominated for the Governor General’s Award for Fiction when she was twenty-eight. Her short story collection Hellgoing won the 2013 Scotiabank Giller Prize, Canada’s most prestigious literary award, for which her novel The Antagonist was also nominated in 2011. Her books have been published in the UK, US, Holland, France, and Germany. Coady has been a journalist, magazine editor, and advice columnist, and is currently writing for television. She divides her time between Edmonton and Toronto. Follow her on Twitter @Lynn_Coady.

Lynn Coady's profile page

HEATHER O’NEILL is a novelist, short-story writer and essayist. Her most recent novel, When We Lost Our Heads was a #1 national bestseller and was a finalist for the Grand Prix du Livre de Montréal. Her previous works include The Lonely Hearts Hotel, which won the Paragraphe Hugh MacLennan Prize for Fiction and was longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction and CBC’s Canada Reads, as well as Lullabies for Little Criminals, The Girl Who Was Saturday Night and Daydreams Of Angels, which were shortlisted for the Governor General’s Literary Award for Fiction, the Orange Prize for Fiction and the Scotiabank Giller Prize two years in a row. She has won CBC’s Canada Reads and the Danuta Gleed Award. Born and raised in Montreal, O’Neill lives there today.

Heather O'Neill's profile page

A three-time nominee for the Journey Prize, Neil Smith published his debut collection, Bang Crunch, with Knopf Canada in 2007. It was later published in America, Britain, France, Germany, and India. It was chosen as a best Book of the year by the Washington Post and the Globe and Mail. His second book, a novel called Boo, was published in May 2015 with Vintage Books in the U.S., William Heinemann in Britain, and Knopf in Canada.

Neil Smith's profile page

Praise for the Journey Prize series:

"The proving ground for new, young Canadian writers, a who's who of the coming generation. . . . I, for one, owe everything to the Journey Prize." —Yann Martel, award-winning author of Life of Pi
"[The Journey Prize series] provide[s] excellent snapshots of the literary trends, styles, and concerns of their respective years." —Quill & Quire