(Art: Lou-ann Neel)

The finalists for the fifth annual Indigenous Voices Awards have been announced. The awards honour the sovereignty of Indigenous creative voices and support the work of Indigenous writers.

This year’s recipients will be announced on June 21, National Indigenous People’s Day.

The jurors for the 2022 Indigenous Voices Awards are Jordan Abel, Joanne Arnott, Carleigh Baker, Warren Cariou, J.D. Kurtness, Francis Langevin, Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill, Otoniya Juliane Okot Bitek, Eden Robinson, June Scudeler, Richard Van Camp, and Eldon Yellowhorn.

The awards are administered by co-chairs Dr. Deanna Reder and Dr. Sophie McCall of Simon Fraser University.

Published prose in English

• Sheryl Doherty (Saddle Lake Cree Nation), Finding Izzy (Wood Dragon Books)
• Brian Thomas Isaac (Okanagan), All the Quiet Places (TouchWood Editions)

Unpublished prose in English

• David Agecoutay (Zagime Anishinabek), “It’s For the Best”
• Jenn Ashton (Squamish), “Hail Mary, Mother of Pearl”
• Bianca Martin (Mi’gmaq), “Paqt’sm / I Was Born with the Spirit of the Wolf”
• Leslie Butt (Nunatsiavut), “Tanked”

Published poetry in English

• Selina Boan (white settler/nehiyaw), Undoing Hours (Harbour Publishing)
• Tenille K. Campbell (Dene/Métis), nedi nezu (Good Medicine) (Arsenal Pulp Press)
• Dallas Hunt (Wapsewsipi, Swan River First Nation), Creeland (Harbour Publishing)
• Diana Hope Tegenkamp (Métis), Girl running (Thistledown Press)

Unpublished poetry in English

• Brandi Bird (Cree, Saulteaux, Métis), “A Dawn”
• Meghan Eaker (Woodland Cree First Nation) “mistahi maskikiy”
• Jacqueline Gibbon (Métis), “tante ochci kiya / Displaced Métis Iskwew”
• Samantha Martin-Bird (Peguis First Nation) “Poems for White Men”

Published work in French

• Édouard Itual Germain (Pekuakamiulnuatsh), Ni kistisin / Je me souviens (Éditions
  Hannenorak)
• Andrée Levesque Sioui (Wendat), Chant(s) (Éditions Hannenorak)
• Daniel Sioui (Wendat), Indien stoïque (Éditions Hannenorak)

Published graphic novels, comics, and illustrated books

• Lisa Boivin (Deninu K’ue First Nation), We Dream Medicine Dreams (Portage & Main Press)
• Aimée Craft (Anishinaabe-Métis), Treaty Words For As Long As the Rivers Flow (Annick Press)
• Teoni Spathelfer (Heiltsuk) with Natassia Davies, ill., White Raven (Heritage House)

Published work in an Indigenous language

• Jodie Callaghan (Mi’gmaq) with Georgia Lesley, ill.; Joe Wilmot, trans., Ga’s / The Train (Second Story Press)
• Brittany Luby (Anishinaabe) with Joshua Mangeshig Pawis-Stecklyey, ill.; Alvin Ted Corbiere and Alan Corbiere, trans., Mii maanda ezhi-gkendmaanh / This Is How I Know (House of Anansi Press)
• Sharon King, (Potawatomi, Wasauksing First Nation) Amik (Kegedonce Press)