HarperCollins Canada has announced the shortlist for the second annual HarperCollins Canada/UBC Prize for Best New Fiction, a prize for unpublished manuscripts by students and graduates of the University of British Columbia’s creative-writing program. Winners are offered a book deal with HarperCollins Canada, and literary representation with The Cooke Agency, which co-sponsors the prize.

In a press release, The Cooke Agency’s Dean Cooke says, “The number of submissions we received this year increased by thirty per cent and we were pleased and impressed by the outstanding quality of writers and work coming out of UBC’s creative writing program.”

The winner will be announced Oct. 24 at the Vancouver Writers Fest.

The shortlisted works are:

• In the Place of Silence by Seattle author Chelsea Bolan is about a young girl’s banishment from the family home in contemporary Mexico and her older sister’s search to find her.
• At the Top of the Wall, Alight by Sudbury author Natalie Morill follows the life of a Viennese Jew, who is a member of the Nazi party during the Second World War.
• Goth Girls of Banff by Toronto author John O’Neill is a collection of short stories that touches on themes of loneliness, loss, and unexpected personal discoveries.