Gatherings and mass movements of crows have been fascinating Canadians for centuries. Now, a tale about these smart, lustrous, cawing creatures has captured the CBC Short Story Prize.
Vancouver writer Larah Luna reveals on the CBC website that she wrote “A Season of Crows” out of a sense that grief doesn’t disappear.
“It shifts and settles into the world around us,” Luna, a marketing and communications executive, tells CBC Books. “Seeing crows gather felt, to me, as if they knew something before we did.”
The award comes with a $6,000 cash prize and a two-week writing residency at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity.
From the first paragraph of “A Season of Crows”, Luna demonstrates an astonishing ability to flood the senses with her words. She opens the story by declaring that the first crow came on a Wednesday.
“It landed on the soccer goalpost and cawed like a squeaky door that still worked fine,” Luna writes. “By Friday there were seven on the fence by the bike racks, ten on the gym roof, and a frosting of them in the poplars by the lot — all facing one way, yet somehow watching everything. ”
In her interview with CBC, the Philippines-born and Manitoba-raised Luna states that the story emerged from her memories of life on the Prairies. She also acknowledges being fascinated by the nightly migration of crows across the skies of Burnaby.
Jury members Maria Reva, Terry Fallis, and Tracey Lindberg issued the following statement about “A Season of Crows”:
“The jury found ‘A Season of Crows’ to be a loving portrait of the complex relationships, community and equality of spirit in a town where crows and humans cohabitate. The genuine love of neighbours, human and more than human, respect for social orders, and reciprocal understandings of home and love, are gently and skillfully woven together in this story. The author’s writing resonates deeply, allowing readers the space for both joy and grief. With the complexity of neighbouring societies laid bare, ‘A Season of Crows’ reminds us all of the richness and necessity of community relationships.”
Larah Luna’s short story is available to read for free on the CBC website. Follow Pancouver on X @PancouverMedia and Instagram @PancouverMedia.
