Lou-ann Neel

Nine writers have been named recipients of the 2025 Indigenous Voices Awards for their unpublished work and 12 more have been named finalists of the IVAs.

The prizes, now in their eighth year, honour the sovereignty of Indigenous creative voices and support the work of Indigenous writers.

The recipients of this year’s awards will be announced on June 21, National Indigenous Peoples Day.

Recipients of the French IVAs will be named on June 15 during the Kwe! festival.

The recipients of the unpublished IVAs each receive $500. Their recognized work will be shared with Yarrow Magazine for future publishing consideration.

Unpublished poetry

• “houses made of pollen & other poems” by Henry Heavyshield (Kainai)
• “Homecoming” by aleria mckay (Onondaga & Teme Augama Anishnabai)
• “And Then” by Dawn Amber Tonks (Secwepemc – St’uxwtéws)
• “Shapeshifter” by Kevin Wesaquate (Cree – Piapot First Nation)

Unpublished prose

• “Archive of Forever” by Jesset Karlen (Métis)
• “Intertribal” by Kieran Rice (Snuneymuxw First Nation)
• “White Ash Falling” by Chantal Rondeau (Northern Tutchone)
• “Life is Water” by Nolan Schmerk (Ojibway)
• “Selected Stories from ‘K’wootxw’” by Jennifer B.S. Williams (Gitksan/Sekani)

The jurors for this year’s prizes are Cody Caetano, Camille Georgeson-Usher, Liz Howard, Jessica Johns, Conor Kerr, Jónína Kirton, Cecily Nicholson, and Otoniya Juliane Okot Bitek.

The finalists for the IVAs are:

Published Prose

• Hòt’a! Enough!: Georges Erasmus’s Fifty-Year Battle for Indigenous Rights by Wayne K. Spear (Kanien’kehá:ka) and Georges Erasmus (Dene) (Dundurn Press)
• Hummingbird/Aamo-binashee by Jennifer Leason (Minegoziibe Anishinabe – Pine Creek First Nation) (Orca Book Publishers)
• Lost at Windy River: A True Story of Survival by Trina Rathgeber (Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation) (Orca Book Publishers)
• Niizh by Joelle Peters (Anishinaabe) (Playwrights Canada Press)
• The Knowing by Tanya Talaga (Anishinaabe – Fort William First Nation) (HarperCollins Canada)

Published Poetry

• Cloud Missives by Kenzie Allen (Haudenosaunee) (Tin House)
• Once the Smudge is Lit by Kelsey Borgford (Nbisiing Nishnaabe, Nipissing Nation) and Cole Forrest (Ojibwe Nipissing Nation) (Kegedonce Press)
• KINAUVUNGA?/ᑭᓇᐅᕗᖓ by Aedan Corey (Inuit) (Musagetes Press)
• She Falls Again by Rosanna Deerchild (Cree) (Coach House Press)
• What Fills Your House Like Smoke by E. McGregor (Métis) (Thistledown Press)

The English awards are administered this year by SFU professors and literary scholars Deanna Reder and Sophie McColl and poet and UBC professor Billy-Ray Belcourt.