"Lipstick Day" by Toronto's Leah Mol Wins CBC Short Story Prize

Today CBC BOOKS announced the winner of the 2018 CBC Short Story Prize. The $6,000 award goes to Leah Mol of Toronto for her story "Lipstick Day", which beat out 2200 submissions from across Canada. You can read the winning story online at CBC Books. 

In addition to the prize purse (which is sponsored by the Canada Council for the Arts) and publication on CBC, Mol will also receive a 10-day writing residency at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity.

This year's jury was composed of writers Eden Robinson, Heather O'Neill, and Open Book's own Kevin Hardcastle. The jury praised "Lipstick Day", saying "[the] searing exploration of [the character's] inner world articulates where the social rituals of politeness collide with fumbling first experiences. The painstaking detail, the carefully chosen moments, and the menacing undercurrent of difficult power dynamics give this story its haunting power."

Mol works as a proofreader, writer, and piano teacher. She has an MFA in creative writing from UBC and an undergraduate degree in journalism from Carleton University. She is currently at work on a novel. 

The four runners-up for the CBC Short Story Prize, each receiving $1000 from the Canada Council for the Arts, are: 

• J. Livingston (Mission, British Columbia) for "Scale of Comfort"
• Terri Monture (Toronto, Ontario) for "Strawberries" 
• Taqralik Partridge (Maxville, Ontario) for "Fifteen Lakota Visitors"
• Ayelet Tsabari (Toronto, Ontario) for "Green"

For more information on the CBC Literary Prizes, please visit CBCbooks.ca.