Brenda Damen
Born1960 (age 63–64)
NationalityCanadian

Brenda Damen is a Canadian writer.[1] Her short story Gibson won the 2020 CBC Short Story Prize.[2][3] The award is accompanied with $6,000 CAD.

Damen's story was selected from 2,400 other entries.[3] She had been working on a manuscript for a novel for thirteen years, and plucked the story from that manuscript. The story is her first work to be published.[4]

The panelists who selected her story were highly complimentary of her courage.[1][3] After her selection the CBC published an interview with her, in which she tried to explain how she was able to write a story seen as inspirational about a youngster's abuse.[5]

References

  1. 1 2 "Former Clearwater resident wins CBC writing contest: Brenda Damen was announced winner of the 2020 CBC Short Story Prize for her work called Gibson". BC Local News. 2020-05-03. Retrieved 2020-05-15. Gibson is a story about a young girl who has a violent home life and spends a lot of time in nature. Her adventures in the outdoors not only depict the beauty of the wilderness, but many of the harsh realities faced by wildlife as well. In the end, the young girl manages to muster up the will to perform a small act of rebellion, letting the reader know she's finding strength and taking her life into her own hands.
  2. ↑ Brenda Damen (2020-04-08). "Gibson by Brenda Damen: 2020 CBC Short Story Prize winner". CBC Books. Retrieved 2020-05-15. She will receive $6,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts, have her work published on CBC Books and attend a two-week writing residency at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. You can read Gibson below.
  3. 1 2 3 "Calgary author wins short story prize". Calgary Herald. 2020-04-22. Retrieved 2020-05-15. Damen said she shared an early draft of Gibson with her inner circle and while some were supportive, others actively tried to dissuade her from entering the story.
  4. ↑ "Calgary author wins short story prize". Calgary Herald. 2020-04-22. Retrieved 2020-05-15. An unpublished Calgary author has been named a national winner for her short story.
  5. ↑ Diane Codrington (2020-04-22). "How Brenda Damen wrote the story that won the 2020 CBC Short Story Prize". CBC Books. Retrieved 2020-05-15. 'I would like readers to take away a sense of what it's like for kids who are abused. I would like them to see the peeling away of self, the crushing of the spirit and autonomy. That these kids aren't cherished and nurtured, they are instead used by the very person who is supposed to protect them.'


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