Publication Date
December 15, 2020
Writer, documentary filmmaker and producer Jamaluddin Aram ’17 of Toronto recently was named one of three finalists for the 2020 Bronwen Wallace Award for Emerging Writers in the short fiction category for his story, “This Hard Easy Life.”
The prestigious award was established by the Writers’ Trust of Canada and is sponsored by the
Royal Bank of Canada.
The prizes are presented to authors under the age of 35 whose work has appeared in a literary publication or anthology but have yet to publish a book. Each finalist receives $2,500 and a mentorship from an established editor.
In selecting Aram’s piece, the jury said it “is as insightful as it is heartbreaking; a story about the ways in which even love itself can become a kind of prison. Through intimate detail, compelling prose, and quiet, emotionally devastating scenes, Jamaluddin Aram gives the reader a nuanced look at life before and after displacement.
By Jhon Sánchez
In my apartment, there are two wooden boxes full of manuscripts. After reading “Rover,” by A.T. Sayre, I keep thinking about those stories, poems, and a novel that lie there. Existing. I dreamed that after my death, someone would come and find them. But more likely, they would be just paper. Hopefully, they would turn into a supermarket paper bag with a seal for recycling.
I went to explore other of Sayre’s short stories, and I read “Missionaries,” available in Kindle,
“Grooming,” available in Literally Stories, and “I’m Not Robert,” available in Bewildering Stories and in the podcast StarShipSofa. They are all excellent, and I wanted to read more, but I found “Whatever Makes You Happy,” a movie that A.T directed, so I watched the film instead of reading more. It’s an impressive career, and I would like to hear from the author himself.