The Writers’ Trust of Canada has announced the finalists for this year’s RBC Bronwen Wallace Award for Emerging Writers, which recognizes writers under the age of 35 who’ve yet to publish in book form, and alternates annually between short fiction and poetry. The winner is awarded $5,000 and the other nominees receive $1,000.

Not only are all three fiction writers on this year’s shortlist women, they’re also graduates of or current students at a Canadian MFA program in creative writing. The nominated authors are:

• Dina Del Bucchia, “Under the ‘I'”
• Kathy Friedman, “At the Bottom of the Garden”
• Jen Neale, “Elk-Headed Man”

Jurors Alexander MacLeod, Johanna Skibsrud, and Madeleine Thíen selected the finalists from 110 submissions. Alissa York, who won the prize in 1999 — the same year Thíen was nominated — will present the award in Toronto on May 2.

The shortlisted stories are available as free downloads through Apple’s iBookstore.