A Lacombe author’s story about a woman grappling with her own future is a finalist in a CBC Literary Awards.
Fran Kimmel submitted Laundry Day to the contest last fall and was recently advised it’s one of 28 short stories from all over Canada being considered for a $6,000 prize sponsored by the CBC and Air Canada.
“It’s a big honour to get this far,” said Kimmel, a business writer who has been delving into fiction more seriously for the last five years. Becoming a finalist “gives you some hope,” she added. “I feel that maybe I’m on the right track.”
Kimmel, who moved to Lacombe from Calgary two years ago, has had several stories published in literary journals as well as in the Journey Prize Anthology short story collection.
Laundry Day was inspired by a fictional character who began forming in her head. Kimmel said the character began spinning her own story, which turned out to be about making a momentous decision at a mundane moment; the woman thinks about whether to stay with her abusive husband while doing the laundry.
The 50-something author, who loves Alice Munro’s writing, said she uses her powers of observation to “try to make sense of things” through her stories, which tend to be about “the extraordinary magic that lies in the every day.”
The English language winners of the CBC Literary Awards contest will be announced on Thursday, March 18, at 11 a.m. EST on CBC Radio.
lmichelin@www.reddeeradvocate.com