Michelle Good, Bevann Fox and jaye simpson among finalists for 2021 Indigenous Voices Awards
The annual awards, established in 2017, honour works by emerging Indigenous writers in Canada
Michelle Good, Bevann Fox and jaye simpson are among the finalists for the 2021 Indigenous Voices Awards.
The annual awards, established in 2017, honour works by emerging Indigenous writers in Canada across nine categories: published prose in French, published prose in English fiction, published prose in English creative nonfiction and life-writing, published poetry in French, published poetry in English, works in an Indigenous language, unpublished prose in English, unpublished poetry in English and works in an alternative format.
This year's winners will receive a total of $30,000.
Adler and Good are shortlisted for published prose in English fiction.
Adler is nominated for Ghost Lake, a collection of 13 stories featuring an interrelated cast of characters and their brushes with the mysterious.
Good is shortlisted for her debut novel Five Little Indians. The book chronicles of the desperate quest of five residential school survivors to come to terms with their past and, ultimately, find a way forward.
Five Little Indians has been nominated for several awards recently, including the Governor General's Literary Award for fiction, the Amazon Canada First Novel Award and the Kobo Emerging Writer Prize for fiction.
Fox is nominated for her memoir Genocidal Love: A Life After Residential School in the category of published prose in English creative nonfiction and life-writing.
Genocidal Love is the story of Fox's childhood and battle to recover her voice — presented through the character "Myrtle." It is a story of courage, resilience and a journey toward healing from the trauma caused by residential school.
Genocidal Love is also nominated for six prizes for the 2021 Saskatchewan Book Awards.
Simpson is shortlisted for their debut poetry collection, it was never going to be okay, in the published poetry in English category.
it was never going to be okay explores the intimacies of intergenerational trauma, Indigeneity and queerness, and the trans woman experience.
Here is the complete shortlist of the 2021 Indigenous Voices Awards.
The finalists for published prose in English fiction are:
- Ghost Lake by Nathan Niigan Noodin Adler
- People Like Frank by Jenn Ashton
- Five Little Indians by Michelle Good
- The Case of the Missing Auntie by Michael Hutchinson
- Land-Water-Sky / Ndè-Tı-Yat'a by Katłįà
The finalists for published prose in English: creative nonfiction and life-writing are:
- Genocidal Love by Bevann Fox
- Powwow by Karen Pheasant-Neganigwane
- Approaching Fire by Michelle Porter
The finalists for unpublished prose in English are:
- Hockey and Hot Chocolate by Deanna M. Jacobson
- Waiting for the Long Night Moon by Amanda Peters
- The Mission by Troy Sebastian
The finalists for published poetry in English are:
- Eskimo Pie: A Poetics of Inuit Identity by Norma Dunning
- Waking Ground by Shalan Joudry
- Bones by Tyler Pennock
- it was never going to be okay by jaye simpson
The finalists for unpublished poetry in English are:
- Ode to Diabetes by Brandi Bird
- A Manifesto for the Morning and Forever After by Erica Violet Lee
- She Said to Me by Shaya MacDonald
- the indian (adultery) act & other poems by Samantha Martin-Bird
The finalists for published prose in French are:
- Okinum by Émilie Monnet
- Mononk Jules by Jocelyn Sioui
The finalists for published poetry in French are:
- Fif et sauvage by Shayne Michael
- Boiteur des bois by Félix Perkins
The finalists for published graphic novels, comics, and illustrated books in any Language are:
- I Will See You Again by Lisa Boivin
- If I Go Missing by Brianna Jonnie with Nahanni Shingoose, illustrated by Neal Shannacappo
- From the Roots Up: Surviving the City Vol. 2 by Tasha Spillett, illustrated by Natasha Donovan
The Shaman's Apprentice: Inuktitut, by Zacharias Kunuk, illustrated by Megan Kyak-Monteith is the only finalist for published work in an Indigenous language.
The winners will be announced on the National Indigenous Peoples Day on June 21, 2021.
