CBC Literary Award Winner

2008
Creative Nonfiction

First Prize - English
COLUMBUS BURNING
Sarah de Leeuw, Prince George, BC
Sarah de Leeuw is a human geographer who grew up in northern British Columbia. She is the author of Unmarked: Landscapes along Highway 16, a collection of creative non-fiction essays exploring the geographies of her home. Sarah is an assistant professor in the Northern Medical Program at the University of Northern British Columbia, the Faculty of Medicine at the University of British Columbia. She is ever grateful to those who want to linger…

Jury’s Comments:
“Columbus Burning, the story of a fire at The Columbus Hotel, a flop house housing the nameless disinherited, speaks not just for the downtown St. George poor, but for all the impoverished people in the backwaters of this country. The piece moves deftly between the anonymity of disenfranchisement; the bigotry of bystanders, and the fleeting conscience of the liberal fringe. In the flames that burn is our paradise lost. Columbus Burning speaks to us, in poignant, subtle and beautiful language, reminding us that our treatment of the nameless and voiceless is a measure of our humanity.”