Bysouth’s difficult characters

May 05th, 2020

Darci Bysouth, who was raised in B.C.’s ranchlands of British Columbia and studied literature at UBC and creative writing at the University of Edinburgh, has been shortlisted for the 23rd annual Danuta Gleed Literary Award for her book, Lost Boys (Thistledown $20). The judges said her collection of short stories, “was a surprise, with characters at once intriguing and engaging. Bysouth explores difficult and unusual aspects of life, occasionally slipping into magic realism. Each story begins with a spark and ends with a satisfying conclusion or one that is completely unexpected.”

The Danuta Gleed Literary Award, administered by the Writers’ Union of Canada, recognizes the best first collection of short fiction by a Canadian author published in the English language and comes with cash prizes for the three best first collections: a first prize of $10,000 and two additional prizes of $500.

Bysouth has been an artist, a naturalist, and “a rather tuneless pianist” who worked as a teacher for many years. Her stories have appeared in The Antigonish Review, The Bridport Prize Anthology, New Writing Scotland, The Bristol Prize Anthology and The Cutthroat Journal of the Arts.

Other short-listed writers include:

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