AU grad’s writing journey leads to healing and national recognition

Cori Francis’s story about her teenage pregnancy and adoption experience, written while completing her master’s degree, earns a spot on the 2025 CBC Nonfiction Prize longlist

When Cori Francis (Master of Arts – Interdisciplinary Studies ’24) began her studies at Athabasca University, she set out to bolster her teaching career while nurturing a love of literature and writing.

What she didn’t expect was to revisit a painful chapter in her life—her teenage pregnancy and giving her baby up for adoption—throughout her master’s program. By exploring her past experiences in class assignments and papers, Francis not only found healing for herself, she also wrote a story that earned her a spot among the 2025 CBC Nonfiction Prize longlist and further inspired her to pursue a dream of writing.

“I’m just so honoured to be chosen to be on the longlist,” says Francis. “It’s so exciting to come out the other side with enough confidence to try to fulfill some of my dreams.”

Francis’s creative nonfiction short story Reflections of a Teen Vessel recounts two days in a small-town Alberta hospital in 1987 when, at 16 years old, she gave birth to a baby girl and was all but forced to give her up for adoption. With her powerful story out in the world, so too is her hope that other girls and women who are hurting will know they are not alone and can experience their own healing.

Online learning fuels a passion

Later in life, and as a mom of four kids, Francis returned to school. After earning an education degree, she got a teaching job in Barnwell, Alta., a small town 43 kilometres east of Lethbridge, and has lived and taught elementary school there for the past 16 years.

Completing a master’s degree was always part of her long-term plan. But it wasn’t the only thing she wanted to do.

“I love teaching, but there’s this other passion that I’ve always had,” she says. “I’ve always wanted to write.” She admits the idea of going back to university to focus solely on education made her plan feel a bit like a chore.

All that changed when Francis came across the AU website and the Master of Arts – Interdisciplinary Studies (MA-IS). The program and its literary studies focus area blew her away and she immediately applied.

“I think because I’m in a small town, I really didn’t know how big my horizons could be,” she says. “But then here’s this program—I love literature, I love reading, and I really want to work on my writing, and this program fulfills what I need for teaching but all these other parts of me, too.”

Francis completed the program in two years, taking classes straight through from September 2022 to August 2024. During that time, her nationally acclaimed piece of creative nonfiction took shape.

Writing has always been a dream, so I will be forever in debt to the professors who encouraged me and told me my work was good enough.

Cori Francis, Master of Arts – Interdisciplinary Studies ’24

The story she tried not to tell

The inspiration for Reflections of a Teen Vessel sparked in a mandatory research course at the beginning of the program. She was introduced to ethnography, a qualitative research method that studies lived experiences. As an exercise in learning how research could be based on people’s stories, Dr. Eloy Rivas-Sanchez prompted the class to share something they’ve always wondered about.

Francis’s answer came quickly but uncomfortably—how did giving her daughter up for adoption impact the rest of her life?

She resisted this thought for weeks but kept coming back to it. The way Francis and her mother had dealt with her teenage pregnancy was to pretend it didn’t happen. But it did happen, and now the need to try to understand what effect that experience had on her life was something Francis could no longer ignore.

Hesitantly, she posted her thoughts in the class forum and was met with support—something Francis would experience throughout her studies.

“I met some of the most amazing people,” she recalls. “We were giving each other feedback all the time—that interaction was invaluable, because you have people really lifting you up and kind of supporting you through every single class.”

She revisited this topic throughout the MA-IS program and counts at least seven papers examining her experiences in different ways. Centring so much of her coursework on her past was both unexpected and personally transformational.

“I was really changed by my AU experience,” Francis says, adding with a bit of a chuckle, “This is not what I signed up to do with my master’s—I never thought, ‘Oh, I'm going tell my birth story from 1987,’ yet here we are!”

A journey of self-discovery, forgiveness, and healing

By revisiting her past, Francis opened a door to repairing her relationship with her mother. It wasn’t easy—Francis recounts how the work they did together took them to “hell and back,” but they made it through.

Looking back, Francis acknowledges that neither she nor her mother had access to counselling or other supports—they simply managed as best they could.

“My mom was doing the best she could with what she had, and I don't begrudge her that or hold it against her anymore. But I did. I did for a long time.”

The culmination of her journey was writing Reflections of a Teen Vessel during her last two courses, Writing the Self with Dr. Reineke Lengelle and Creative Non-Fiction with Angie Abdou. By writing this version of her story, Francis finally gave herself permission—nearly 40 years later—to actually feel all the feelings she felt that day.

“Honestly, I never really cried about what happened that day,” she adds. “And then the day I wrote [Reflections of a Teen Vessel], it came out of me really fast, and I bawled the whole time.”

This cathartic and healing experience was both the hardest part and the best part of working through her trauma.

My mom was doing the best she could with what she had, and I don't begrudge her that or hold it against her anymore.

Cori Francis, Master of Arts – Interdisciplinary Studies ’24

From class assignment to the national stage

As part of the creative nonfiction course, Abdou touched on how emerging writers could get their work published and offered several suggestions. Francis set her sights on the CBC Nonfiction Prize.

“I’m a huge follower of the CBC lists,” Francis explains. “When I asked Angie if I should submit my story, she said I absolutely should—I decided to reach for the stars and just go for it.”

Francis refined her story to meet the contest requirements. She submitted her work and then “kind of forgot about it,” she says. “When I got the letter months later in August, I was super shocked.”

Healing through sharing the truth

Although Francis’s family and friends already knew about this time in her life, Reflections of a Teen Vessel has given them different insights into her experiences.

“I was scared to say those things—to use the swear words, say all the things about my body when I was 16 years old. I was scared to write those actual words, and I was scared of being judged,” she explains. “But it was the opposite—I was so supported. I felt validated in saying what I said in those words.”

As part of her research, Francis found numerous stories that mirrored her own published in academic papers and notes how often women have had their lives shaped by societal norms rooted in silence and shame.

She hopes sharing her story helps others find the courage to talk about their experiences and go through their own healing processes. “I’m glad [my story] did make the longlist because these are not stories that should be buried.”

The next chapter

Francis has many ideas for what to write next. Her biggest challenge is carving out time while still teaching full time. She plans to write a memoir about her struggles, of getting knocked down time and time again, and her journey to a place of happiness and peace and joy.

She’s also drawing inspiration from her family. “I have incredible siblings who have so many stories to tell,” she says. She’s also excited to collaborate with her niece—inspired by the graphic novels Francis was introduced to in her MA-IS courses, they have started talking about working together with Francis writing and her niece drawing the artwork for a graphic novel of their own.

Looking ahead, she’s grateful for the support she received at AU, and for everything that she’s learned—including about herself. The encouragement to explore her past and tell her story helped transform a quiet aspiration to write into a creative pursuit she’s determined to follow.

“Writing has always been a dream, so I will be forever in debt to the professors who encouraged me and told me my work was good enough,” says Francis.

 Learn more about AU's Master of Arts – Interdisciplinary Studies program.