Radio-Canada, September 21, 2016

Leslie A. Davidson has won the 2016 CBC Creative Nonfiction Prize for “Adaptation.”

As the grand prize winner, Davidson will receive $6,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts and her story will be published in Air Canada enRoute magazine. She will also receive a 10-day writing residency at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity.

The jury was comprised of writers Brian Brett, Diane Schoemperlen and Drew Hayden Taylor. Here’s what they had to say about “Adaptation”:

“‘Adaptation’ is the story of a long-married couple walking alongside the river near their town. Beyond the strong and simple writing lie all the complexities of love and pain and memory, learning to deal with the hard things we don’t expect. Told with tenderness and gentle humour, it’s a story of searching for signposts, navigating the new terrain of our lives as we age. And how we must learn the knack of crying – and laughing – silently.”

Originally from Kingston, Ont., Davidson now lives in Revelstoke, B.C. In 2011 she was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease; soon after, her husband was diagnosed with young-onset dementia. “Telling our story began as therapy but became the articulation of a journey, full of sorrow but coloured by astonishing love, humour and compassion,” says Davidson of her award-winning piece.

Source : CBC