The Journey Prize Anthology

Hugh Oliver is the former editor-in-chief of the OISE Press.

Up to about the mid-1950s, the short story enjoyed a flourishing market.
Nowadays, apart from a few prestigious (and difficult to penetrate)
magazines like Atlantic Monthly, the short story is being kept alive by
literary journals such as Prairie Fire and The Capilano Review.
Published annually by McClelland and Stewart since 1989, The Journey
Prize is an anthology of short stories that first appeared in and are
now submitted by literary journals. Each year, the author of the story
adjudged to be the best is awarded a prize of $10,000.

In contrast to the stories of 50 years ago, the 12 outstanding stories
in this volume rely not on some unexpected plot twist at the end but
rather on relations between characters and between characters and their
environment—a bank robber who is a regular visitor to a steam bath
strikes up an unusual acquaintance; a Mennonite boy’s discovery of the
joys of black spiritual music lands him in trouble with his elders. This
year’s prize was awarded to Elyse Glasco for “Can You Wave Bye Bye,
Baby?,” the story of a young woman’s alienation from her baby. The
Journey Prize provides an important showcase for new Canadian writers.