Residential school book gets timely release

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This article was published 18/06/2021 (1188 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A book telling the story of an urban residential school located in River Heights will be launched online on Wednesday at 7 p.m., featuring the experiences of former students who attended Assiniboia Residential School between 1958 and 1973.

Did You See Us?: Reunion, Remembrance and Reclamation at an Urban Indian Residential School is written by the Assiniboia Residential School Legacy Group, edited by University of Manitoba professor Andrew Woolford and published by the University of Manitoba Press. To take part in the launch, see wfp.to/didyouseeus.

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Donna Besel has drawn extensively on life in small communities in Manitoba’s boreal forest regions in her short fiction and creative non-fiction writing.

That, combined with her work as a creative writing teacher, has earned the St-Georges-based writer the Manitoba Arts Council’s Rural Recognition Prize, worth $10,000, which recognizes rural artists for their achievements.

In addition to her 2015 short story collection, Lessons From a Nude Man, Besel has been a winner in the CBC Literary Awards and in national competitions by literary journals such as Winnipeg’s Prairie Fire. She also has a memoir coming out this fall from University of Regina Press, entitled The Unravelling: Incest and the Destruction of a Family.

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A story by Winnipeg poet and novelist Catherine Hunter that appeared in Prairie Fire won the top fiction prize at the 2021 National Magazine Awards, which were announced June 11.

Hunter’s story, Calling You, appeared in the Spring 2020 issue of Prairie Fire.

A handful of other winners also featured Manitoba connections. Peguis First Nation author Joshua Whitehead took gold in the personal journalism category for Who Names the Rez Dog Rez?, which appeared in the Malahat Review. Aaron Vincent Elkaim’s State of erosion: the legacy of Manitoba Hydro, published in the Narwhal, nabbed two awards: silver in the portrait photography and gold in photo essay and photojournalism. Timothy Moore and Melissa Tait of the Globe and Mail won a gold for Manhunt, Manitoba in the best online video: mini-doc category.

For a complete list of winners and finalists see wfp.to/nma2021.

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A virtual national poetry tour stops in Winnipeg Friday, with poets Selina Boan, Molly Cross-Blanchard and Dallas Hunt reading from their newly published debut collections, as well as local guest reader Hannah Green.

Boan, a finalist for last year’s CBC Poetry Award, is the author of Undoing Hours, a poetry collection focused on undoing, relearning and reclaiming. Cross-Blanchard is the author of Exhibitionist, a collection focusing on shame. Hunt is the author of Creeland, an exploration of the attachment to the idea of home. Winnipegger Green was a finalist for the 2021 Writers Trust Bronwen Wallace Award in poetry.

To participate, see wfp.to/poetrytour.

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A poet and spoken-word artist from Sapotoweyak Cree Nation in northwestern Manitoba is one of three writers nominated for the Dayne Ogilvie Prize for emerging LGBTTQ+ writers in Canada, which will be announced Wednesday.

Vancouver’s jaye simpson is the author of it was never going to be okay.

Simpson shares the short list with fellow Vancouver resident Jillian Christmas, author of the poetry collection The Gospel of Breaking, and with Kama La Mackerel, author of the poetry collection ZOM-FAM.

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A group of writers, mostly from Manitoba, reflect on freedom of movement, physical activity and travel in an anthology being launched Thursday at 7:30 p.m. by the Winnipeg Trails Association.

The project, Write to Move, began before the pandemic cast a new light on travel and freedom of movement.

The anthology contains memoirs, essays and poetry interpreting the themes. Editor Sharon Chisvin and a number of contributors will take part in the online launch this week.

To register visit wfp.to/writetomove.

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