The Window of a Stranger's House by Rachel Lachmansingh

Rachel Lachmansinghhas made the2022 CBC Short Story Prize longlistfor The Window of a Stranger's House.

• 36 writers make the 2022 CBC Short Story Prize longlist

The winner of the 2022CBC Short Story Prizewill receive $6,000 from theCanada Council for the Arts, have their work published onCBC Booksand have the opportunity to attend a two-week writing residency at theBanff Centre for Arts and Creativity. Four finalists will each receive $1,000 from theCanada Council for the Artsand have their work published onCBC Books.

The shortlist will be announced on April 21 and the winner will be announced onApril 28.

If you're interested in the CBC Literary Prizes,the 2022 CBC Poetry Prize is open for submissions until May 31.

• Calling all writers! The 2022 CBC Poetry Prize is now open!

About Rachel Lachmansingh

Rachel Lachmansingh is a Guyanese-Canadian writer from Toronto. Her writing has been considered for various awards, including the Malahat Review's Far Horizons Award for Short Fiction for which she was shortlisted, the National Magazine Awards, the Alberta Magazine Publishers Association Awards and the Rhysling Awards. She has work published or forthcoming in Minola Review, Grain Magazine, the Malahat Review, the Fiddlehead, the New Quarterly, CV2, Augur Magazine and filling Station. She reads for several literary magazines and is pursuing her BA in writing at the University of Victoria.

Entry in five-ish words

"A woman chases buried desire."

The story's source of inspiration

"The Window of a Stranger's House was the very first short story idea and title I brainstormed, but I was much too young to understand how to write it. Like most of my short fiction ideas, it appeared seemingly out of nowhere, just a small strand of voice to hold onto. Fiction is so much like unraveling a ball of yarn for me I learn everything about a story as I write until I get to the end. The story didn't materialize until a few months ago when I needed to meet my monthly goal at the time of a short story a month and wanted to flesh out an old idea."

First lines

The couple who lives in the building across yours is about to break up. You haven't come to this conclusion lightly you'd never say something so presumptuous if you didn't have proof.

These are the facts: he buys flowers every Tuesday, but they're never for her (always, he pulls the bouquet from a grocery bag, writes a message on the cellophane with a sharpie from his girlfriend's desk, then shoves it back into the bag). She comes home weekly with a new set of lacey lingerie that she never wears for him (you would know: your apartment's sliding door looks straight into their room).

About the 2022 CBC Short Story Prize

The winner of the 2022CBC Short Story Prizewill receive $6,000 from theCanada Council for the Arts, have their work published onCBC Booksand attend a two-week writing residency at theBanff Centre forArts and Creativity. Four finalists will each receive $1,000 from theCanada Council for the Artsand have their work published onCBC Books.

The 2022CBC Poetry Prizeis currently open for submissions until May31, 2022. The2023CBC Short Story Prizewill open in September and the 2023CBC Nonfiction Prizewill open in January 2023.