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Last call for Early Bird deal!
Submit your poetry, short fiction, and/or creative nonfiction for a chance to win one of three $2,000 prizes and publication.
This year's judges:
Manahil Bandukwala (poetry)
H. Felix Chau Bradley (fiction)
Shane Neilson (cnf)
Read interviews with them below.
Early Bird entry fee until Sep. 30
(includes a one-year print subscription):
CAD $20 for each entry from Canada
CAD $30 for each entry from elsewhere
CAD $10 for each additional entry, no limit
Head over to our contest guidelines page to learn more.
Manahil Bandukwala,
Open Season poetry judge
 UVic Work Study student Ava Ugolini talks with the Open Season Awards poetry judge about coming into your poetic voice, balancing martial arts and writing, and the struggle of titling her latest poetry book, Heliotropia.
AU: As someone who often interviews and reviews the work of others, I'm curious which poetry collections—or general literature—you’ve found especially moving over the course of your academic and poetic career?
MB: This is a big question! I love reviewing and interviewing because of the deeper engagement it offers with a work, and oftentimes what I choose to review also reflects where I am with my journey in writing or in life. Two books that have synced up perfectly with the above-mentioned journey are River in an Ocean: Essays on Translation (trace press, 2023), edited by Nuzhat Abbas and Relative to Wind: On Sailing, Craft, and Community (Assembly Press, 2024) by Phoebe Wang. River in an Ocean collects essays by women translators working in decolonial contexts. I read the book when I was editing Heliotropia, and the essays opened up my understanding of how speaking multiple languages influenced my writing in English. Relative to Wind follows Wang’s journey with sailing, and the similarities between sailing and writing communities. Wang’s book brought clarity and language to my similar journey of balancing martial arts and writing.
Read the rest of Manahil Bandukwala's interview.
H Felix Chau Bradley,
Open Season fiction judge
 Managing Editor L'Amour Lisik talks with the Open Season Awards fiction judge about live readings, the humbling experience of learning a new language, and their novel-in-progress, Lazy Tongue.
LL: You’re set to spend three weeks at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre in Ireland to work on your first novel, Lazy Tongue. Can you tell us more about your novel-in-progress and what you hope to gain from your artist residency?
HFCB:
Having started off as a short story writer, I’m trying my hand at novel-writing, which is a stretch for me, but a useful one, I think. I was wondering what would happen if I had to hang out with a character for longer than a few thousand words: How uncomfortable would things become, and would that discomfort be generative? I began to take Cantonese language lessons in my late thirties—it’s my mother’s first language but I never learned it growing up. It is one of the more humbling experiences I’ve had in a long time: as someone who hasn’t had much trouble functioning in both English and French, I’m discovering that my language skills do not transfer over to Cantonese at all. Lazy Tongue is a novel about what we inherit from our parents and what we fail to grasp about them; it’s also about the pains and pleasures of queer relationships, and about discomfort and failure and fear. It’s also supposed to be funny, though I know that description doesn’t make it seem that way!
I’m so honoured to have been chosen by the Quebec Writers’ Federation to be the Max Margles writer in residence at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre this fall. I’ve never visited Ireland before, and I’m looking forward to writing and thinking there, and to meeting other writers and artists at the Centre. I’m especially looking forward to having three uninterrupted weeks in which to work on the novel. I’m normally so easily distracted and overwhelmed by other responsibilities and concerns; I want to give this project the attention that it needs.
Read the rest of H Felix Chau Bradley's interview.
Shane Neilson,
Open Season cnf judge
 Creative Nonfiction Editorial Board intern Irena Datcu-Romano talks with the Open Season Awards creative nonfiction judge about pursuing parallel careers, reading as first love, and bending the prose line toward the poetic line.
IDR: Any advice for writers pursuing parallel careers?
SN: Yes. This is one of the most common reasons I’m approached at readings and workshops. The full answer is too long, there’s too much practical advice to give, but ultimately I land on this serious joke: I tell the asker to build for themselves a fortress. A small fortress. A half-day in the middle of the week, not on Monday or Friday. From there, be absolutely merciless about your time. Let everyone in your life know that they cannot intrude. Be as merciless with yourself as you are with others. Don’t let anything intrude. Shut off the phone. I have a sick child, I say. I’m there for them almost all the time. I still have to shut off my phone. The world doesn’t want you or need you, really. But you need and want this time. With it, you are being true to yourself. You are being serious. You are respecting the words that may come. If anything threatens the fortress, then overreact. Behave like you’re five years old, with a wooden sword. Rush out of your fortress and brandish it at the interloper such that they’ll never bother you again. I actually tell them: wave your arm like you are brandishing that wooden sword. If you get good at this, the half-day will expand to a full day. Etc. Until you’re satisfied. But start here.
Read the rest of Shane Neilson's interview.
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