A 91大黄鸭 writer has made it to the finals of a national writing competition.
Corinna Chong, who teaches English at Okanagan College, is one of five writers who made it into the 2021 CBC Short Story Prize with her story titled Kids in Kindergarten.
She said finding out she made the shortlist was a shock.
鈥淚t feels amazing. I鈥檓 so thrilled,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 expect to get this far and I was just so happy to be on the longlist.鈥�
Based on the title, one might think it鈥檚 a heartwarming story about children but Chong鈥檚 story is centred on motherhood and the loss of a child.
Chong said she had been thinking about miscarriage and motherhood a lot since she experienced them herself.
鈥淚 was interested, particularly, in this story of loss because of other stories I鈥檝e heard about miscarriage as well as my own experience,鈥� she said.
鈥淏ased on that, I started thinking about the way we grieve miscarriage in our culture and how isolating it can be.鈥�
The unnamed protagonist of Kids in Kindergarten is trying to process and grieve a very recent miscarriage, having gone through previous ones as well. In that character and her interactions, Chong said she wanted to identify the kind of resentment a person can carry when someone wants a child so badly but it doesn鈥檛 happen for them.
鈥淲hen someone is in that situation, it seems like everyone around them is able to have children and there鈥檚 a sense that maybe you would treasure it more than them because it was so easy for them,鈥� she said.
Currently, Chong is on leave from teaching and is working on finishing her second novel. Her first novel, Belinda鈥檚 Rings, was published in 2013. Her other work, including reviews and short fiction pieces, have been published in The Malahat Review, Room, Grain, and The Humber Literary Review.
To read Kids in Kindergarten, visit .
READ MORE: A call for after-hour vet care in Penticton can鈥檛 be met with crisis level vet shortages
twila.amato@blackpress.ca
Like us on and follow us on .
