1. Jessica Seburn
2. Bartley Kives
3. Madeline Rae

“It’s so vulnerable to share your art and share your passion ... It’s completely worth it.”

Some Winnipeggers may know Jessica Seburn as the author of The Corner Chip, a book she self-published in 2018 that discusses her grief after her best friend’s unexpected death.

“I’m so flattered and honoured by being named the best writer in Winnipeg. It just means a lot to me,” she says. “I’ve been a storyteller and a writer pretty much my whole life. So this year, it’s just really nice to get recognition for the writing that I’ve been doing lately.”

Seburn says she started writing again this year after suffering a brain injury. “I realized how many things I had been putting off, and that included my passion for writing,” she says.

“So many of us are really holding back on the things that light us up. And this year has been a testimony of what can happen when you don’t wait, and you just go for it.”

Seburn started writing a memoir essay collection called I Love the Alphabet. Thinking through her past and present, Seburn writes about the connections between her online identity and her relationship with herself. “A lot of us aren’t living in reality, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing,” she says.

She is publishing this book chapter by chapter, each of which is based on a different word starting from letters A to Z. Seburn says she feels grateful for the feedback and support she gets from her readers. “It’s been a very challenging and fun and fulfilling experience so far,” Seburn says.

Published in Volume 77, Number 12 of The Uniter (December 1, 2022)