St. Albert author Sarah Habben is one of five finalists shortlisted for the 2014 CBC Creative Nonfiction Prize.
Habben is vying for the annual award with her story Where I Am From. The finalists were chosen from 1,800 entries from across Canada.
“I felt like a kid at Christmas time. When someone other than your mom and dad wants to read something you write, it’s a pretty good feeling,” said Habben.
Born in Colorado, Habben was raised in Malawi where her father was a minister for 10 years. Where I Am From is a 1,500-word short story of her life as a “TCK.”
“Third culture kid is a label for kids who have one foot in their parents’ culture and one foot in a foreign culture and they belong to neither. It’s an attempt to describe the contradictions of what I thought my home was and what other people thought it should be,” she said.
Habben describes her decade in Malawi as a “super place” where she attended an international school and met students from around the world.
Her large backyard was a playground populated by dogs, cats, a guinea pig and a donkey named Lady Diana. She even remembers bottle feeding a young duiker (pronounced diker), a small antelope that as a baby was the size of jackrabbit.
Entrenched in the St. Albert community for the past 15 years, Habben is married to Pastor Daniel Habben of St. Peter Evangelical Lutheran Church. Together they wrote The Blood Stained Path to God, a published religious book that explains Old Testament laws and sacrifices.
Habben is also working on a series of short stories for children based on her Malawian experiences.
Also shortlisted from Alberta are Jennifer Clark of Calgary and Brandee Eubank of New Brigden. In addition, CBC has shortlisted Patti-Kay Hamilton of Fort Smith, N.W.T. and Patricia Webb of Port Moody, B.C.
The winners will be announced Monday, July 28. The finalists’ stories are posted on the CBC Books Canada Writes website. As of today, readers have until Wednesday, July 23 to vote for their favourite story.
Finalists have already received $1,000. The grand prize winner receives an additional $5,000 award from the Canada Council for the Arts and a two-week writing residency at the Banff Centre.
Visit www.cbc.ca/books/canadawrites/
