By: Faith W., Seven Somebodies
June 19, 2020
To honour National Indigenous Peoples Day on June 21, I curated a short blog on Indigenous authors and artists. It is important to celebrate the amazing creative contributions of Indigenous people. So after reading this blog, I have a few recommendations -
If you are able to do so: purchase music and books created by Indigenous people (go directly to their sites to ensure the creative is paid fairly for their work)
Like, comment, share and subscribe to their work on various social media platforms
Leave positive reviews!
Encourage your friends and family to do the same
Indigenous Literature
Indigenous authors produce amazing books and stories that can show their perspectives, experiences, cultures. Their stories can highlight triumphs and bear witness to struggles.
Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimalane (Métis)
One novel that I would suggest to anyone who can handle a fantasy styled book that has connections to historical events is The Marrow Thieves. The Marrow Thieves is a novel about a young Indigenous boy going through an apocalyptic setting. Due to climate change people can no longer dream and EXCEPT for Indigenous people. And for this reason, Indigenous people are hunted for their bone marrow in the hopes of finding a cure. This book was the 2017 winner of the Governor General Literary Award (Young People’s Literature - Text)
The Marrow Thieves is written by Cherie Dimalane
Photo: Pat Howell-Blackmore
Mountain Legend by Jordan Wheeler (Cree, Objibwe, Assiniboine)
My next recommendation is for the short story, Mountain Legend. This is a story about a young boy facing a challenge of climbing a mountain to get to an eagles nest. The boy wanted to complete his own rite of passage, and prove he could become a man. To do this he needed to get an eagle feather from the top of a cliff. The story shows this young boy's resilience through the challenge he faced and through that he learned the legend of the mountain.
Indigenous Music Artists
Here is a short list of some amazing Indigenous Music Artists and links to my song recommendations:
A Tribe Called Red - Stadium Pow Wow
Buffy Sainte-Marie & Tanya Tagaq - You Got to Run (Spirit of the Wind)
Digging Roots - Highway 17
Drezus - Warpath