Language

The first-ever collection of Anniiih/Gros Ventre narratives to be published in the Aaniiih/Gros Ventre language, this book contains traditional trickster tales and war stories. Some of these stories were collected by Alfred Kroeber in 1901, while others are contemporary, oral stories, told in the past few years. 

As with the previous titles in the First Nations Language Readers series, Aaniiih/Gros Ventre Stories comes with a complete glossary and provides some grammar usage. Delightfully illustrated, each story is accompanied by an introduction to guide the reader through the material.

The Aaniiih/Gros Ventre people lived in the Saskatchewan area in the 1700s, before being driven south during the 1800s to the Milk River area in Montana, along the USA/Canada border.

Educator & Series Information
This book is published in the Aaniiih/Gros Ventre language. An English glossary is provided at the back of the book. 

The Canadian Indigenous Books for Schools list recommends this resource for Grades 10-12 for these subjects: English Language Arts, Indigenous Language Studies, Language Studies.

Aaniiih/Gros Ventre Stories is part of the First Nations Language Readers series. With a mix of traditional and new stories, each First Nations Language Reader introduces an Indigenous language and demonstrates how each language is used today. The University of Regina Press’s long-term goal is to publish all 60+ Indigenous languages of Canada.

Additional Information
120 pages | 5.50" x 8.50" | Compiled and Edited by Terry Brockie and Andrew Cowell
 

 An Honest Woman by Jonina Kirton confronts us with beauty and ugliness in the wholesome riot that is sex, love, and marriage. From the perspective of a mixed-race woman, Kirton engages with Simone de Beauvoir and Donald Trump to unravel the norms of femininity and sexuality that continue to adhere today.

Kirton recalls her own upbringing, during which she was told to find a good husband who would “make an honest woman” out of her. Exploring the lives of many women, including her mother, her contemporaries, and well-known sex-crime stories such as the case of Elisabeth Fritzl, Kirton mines the personal to loosen the grip of patriarchal and colonial impositions. 

An Honest Woman explores the many ways the female body is shaped by questions that have been too political to ask: What happens when a woman decides to take her sexuality into her own hands, dismissing cultural norms and the expectations of her parents? How is a young woman’s sexuality influenced when she is perceived as an “exotic” other? Can a woman reconnect with her Indigenous community by choosing Indigenous lovers? 

Daring and tender in their honesty and wisdom, these poems challenge the perception of women’s bodies as glamorous and marketable commodities and imagine an embodied female experience that accommodates the role of creativity and a nurturing relationship with the land.

Reviews
“Jonina Kirton is courageously honest about her life experiences as a female of Indigenous and immigrant ancestry. Many poems resonate deeply, as we identify with her personal quest to figure out who she is, and the unacceptable things done to her. Her raw honesty is unsettling and uncomfortable, because it can be our truth too. Her poems depict devaluation and dehumanization, grieving, lessons learned. Her poems offer important insights as to why there are thousands of missing and murdered Indigenous women.” — Senator Lillian E. Dyck

“When writing from the voice of between, writer and reader have no place to hide. Assumptions and camouflage fall away. Murdered, missing, and violated women and girl voices have been silenced. The story lethally repeats. Kirton picks over how she was raised familially and culturally like a crime scene. Too, she affirms, ‘I have been here forever and I will rise again and again.’ Tough, eloquent, revelatory, these poems are the very ones we are desperately in need of.” — Betsy Warland, author of Oscar of Between: A Memoir of Identity and Ideas

“I’m sure people have been looking at me strangely every time I gasp, but I can’t glance away from the page for even a second to notice. Some of the poems end sharply, with a punch; some deliberately leave me searching for the next line; others show the repetition of heartbreaking cycles of violence and oppression, but offer a portrayal of resilience, too.” — All Lit Up!

Educator Information
This book would be useful for Women's Studies, Creative Writing, English Language Arts, Poetry, and English courses.  Recommended for grades 11-12 and university-college students.  

Please be advised, this book contains explicit sexual references and references to sexual and physical abuse.

Additional Information
104 pages | 6.00" x 9.00"

It's never too early to start teaching children their First Nations language, and Anishinaabe ABC Mazina'igan is a great tool to assist with learning.

This book is the second in a series by Language Facilitator, Wanda Barker. It is a great tool to assist with learning the Ojibwe language. Anishinaabe ABC Mazina’igan is filled with beautiful illustrations, Anishinaabemowin/Ojibwe sentences and their English translations. The images can serve as a starting point for discussion of the cultural relevancy of the sentences associated with each letter.

This book can be used by students, parents and teachers, young and old.  It is written in the double vowel writing system and is intended to show the sequence of the Ojibwe alphabet.  The images can serve as a starting point for discussion of the cultural relevancy of the sentences associated with each letter.

Educator Information
This book is written in the Ojibwe language with a glossary at the back in Ojibwe and English. It is useful for anyone wanting to learn the Ojibwe language. 

It’s never too early to start teaching children their First Nations language, and Anishinaabemowin Alphabet is the perfect place to begin. This book is filled with beautifully shaded illustrations, Anishinaabemowin/Ojibwe words and their English translations, and it can be used by students, parents and teachers young and old. It is written in the double vowel writing system and is intended to show the sequence of the Ojibwe alphabet. The images can serve as a starting point for discussion of the cultural relevancy of the word associated with each letter.

Educator Information
This book is written in the Ojibwe language.  An English translation for each word is provided at the back of the book.

The publisher recommends this book for children or anyone learning the Ojibwe language.

“My name is Weetaltuk; Eddy Weetaltuk. My Eskimo tag name is E9-422.” So begins From the "Tundra to the Trenches." Weetaltuk means “innocent eyes” in Inuktitut, but to the Canadian government, he was known as E9-422: E for Eskimo, 9 for his community, 422 to identify Eddy.

In 1951, Eddy decided to leave James Bay. Because Inuit weren’t allowed to leave the North, he changed his name and used this new identity to enlist in the Canadian Forces: Edward Weetaltuk, E9-422, became Eddy Vital, SC-17515, and headed off to fight in the Korean War. In 1967, after fifteen years in the Canadian Forces, Eddy returned home. He worked with Inuit youth struggling with drug and alcohol addiction, and, in 1974, started writing his life’s story. This compelling memoir traces an Inuk’s experiences of world travel and military service. Looking back on his life, Weetaltuk wanted to show young Inuit that they can do and be what they choose. 

Reviews
“Endlessly interesting; an account of a traditional way of life now lost, a gripping first-hand account of a front-line soldier during the war, and an honest account of a young man’s adventures and misadventures. It is to all our benefit that it has, at last, found its way into print." — Michael Melgaard, The National Post

“Tender, honest, and often raw, Weetaltuk’s storytelling is masterful, engrossing, and deeply human. He has imbued his writing with a philosophical nuance that is characteristically Inuit: very subtle, yet profound." — Siku Allooloo, The Malahat Review

“Recounts the adventures of Inuk veteran Eddy Weetaltuk, from his early life in the North to his escape to the south under an assumed identity, to his enlistment in the Canadian Forces, which took him across the Canadian West, to Japan and Germany, and into battle in Korea. Adopting the name Eddy Vital was necessary in 1951 because the federal government restricted the movement of Inuit people. Through his alias, Weetaltuk was able to see the world; in the army, he experienced equality and respect – all the while never forgetting his true identity as an Inuk. The publication history of From the Tundra to the Trenches is itself a four-decades-long saga of many twists and turns. That it now finds English publication (after first appearing in French and German) owes to the author’s conviction that his life story be read as a work of literature with the makings of a bestseller. Eddy Weetaltuk was right.”— Jade Colbert, The Globe and Mail

“For those interested in Inuit culture it offers the rare and valuable perspective of an Inuk looking out from his culture at the world rather than the world looking in. “ — P. T. Sherrill, CHOICE

Educator & Series Information
From the Tundra to the Trenches is the fourth book in the First Voices, First Texts series, which publishes lost or underappreciated texts by Indigenous writers. This new English edition of Eddy Weetaltuk’s memoir includes a foreword and appendix by Thibault Martin and an introduction by Isabelle St-Amand.

Additional Information
280 pages | 5.50" x 8.50" | 25 colour illustrations, 3 b&w photographs, bibliography

Like all First Nations languages, Lillooet (Lil'wat) is a repository for an abundantly rich oral literature. In These Are Our Legends, the fifth volume of the First Nations Language Readers series, the reader will discover seven traditional Lillooet sptakwlh (variously translated into English as "legends," "myths," or "bed-time stories.")

These texts are presented in a technical transcription that can be used by linguists, and also in a practical orthography that can be used by Lillooet speakers themselves. An English translation is also given. Basic information on the Lillooet language, its grammar, and a glossary are included in the volume.

With thanks to the Mount Currie Cultural Centre and the Tszil Publishing House.

Series Information
These Are Our Legends is part of the First Nations Language Readers series. With a mix of traditional and new stories, each First Nations Language Reader introduces an Indigenous language and demonstrates how each language is used today. The University of Regina Press’s long-term goal is to publish all 60+ Indigenous languages of Canada.

Additional Information
120 pages | 5.50" x 8.50" | Narrated by Lillooet Elders | Transcribed and Translated by Jan van Eijk 

Authenticity Note: This book has been labelled as containing Authentic Indigenous Text because of the narration from Lillooet Elders.  It is up to readers to determine if this text will work as an authentic resource for their purposes.

WHEREAS her birth signaled the responsibility as mother to teach what it is to be Lakota therein the question: What did I know about being Lakota? Signaled panic, blood rush my embarrassment. What did I know of our language but pieces? Would I teach her to be pieces? Until a friend comforted, Don’t worry, you and your daughter will learn together. Today she stood sunlight on her shoulders lean and straight to share a song in Diné, her father’s language. To sing she motions simultaneously with her hands; I watch her be in multiple musics. —from “WHEREAS Statements”

WHEREAS confronts the coercive language of the United States government in its responses, treaties, and apologies to Native American peoples and tribes, and reflects that language in its officiousness and duplicity back on its perpetrators. Through a virtuosic array of short lyrics, prose poems, longer narrative sequences, resolutions, and disclaimers, Layli Long Soldier has created a brilliantly innovative text to examine histories, landscapes, her own writing, and her predicament inside national affiliations. “I am,” she writes, “a citizen of the United States and an enrolled member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, meaning I am a citizen of the Oglala Lakota Nation—and in this dual citizenship I must work, I must eat, I must art, I must mother, I must friend, I must listen, I must observe, constantly I must live.” This strident, plaintive book introduces a major new voice in contemporary literature.

Additional Information
114 pages | 7.04" x 8.84"

As an Elder once said, "Learn one Cree word a day for 100 days, and emerge a different person."

In 100 Days of Cree, Neal McLeod offers us a portal into another way of understanding the universe--and our place within it--while demonstrating why this funny, vibrant, and sometimes salacious language is "the sexiest of them all" (according to Tomson Highway).

Based on a series of Facebook posts, the 100 short chapters or "days" in the book present a chain of related words, some dealing with the traditional--the buffalo hunt, the seasons--and others cheekily capturing the detritus of modern life--from Internet slang to Johnny Cash songs to Viagra.

The result is both an introduction to the most widely spoken Indigenous language in Canada and the opportunity to see the world, and ourselves, in another way.

Reviews
"The nonfiction book is divided into 100 themes and offers Cree words and English explanations for everything from traditional subjects such as powwows and medicine to modern subjects such as Facebook and Star Wars. It also includes a guide to pronunciation written by Arok Wolvengrey, a linguist and the author of a Cree-English dictionary. 'When we think about indigenous languages, there’s a part of us that thinks they’re dying languages, ' URP publisher Bruce Walsh said. 'And then this manuscript comes in that demonstrates a living, vital language.' McLeod said that he and Wolvengrey worked to keep a balance between traditional usage and modern adaptations. 'To revitalize our languages, we have to do two things: we have to document the classical terminology, because within that terminology are all of our metaphors and idioms; but we also have to think of how to put old words together, to coin words, to describe the contemporary world.'"  — Laura Godfrey, Publishers Weekly

Additional Information
325 pages | 5.50" x 7.00"

Gatherings XV: Youth - Water Anthology features writing submissions from B.C. based Indigenous Youth on the theme of water. 

The Gatherings-Water project reflects the cultural rejuvenation of Indigenous Youth in B.C. It is not only a revival of a respected anthology series, but also a new level of engagement between publishing house and community, between established writers and emerging voices, and finally a testament to the connection of Indigenous Youth with the life-sustaining power of water.

Essays, narratives, fictional pieces and poems are grouped thematically under headings: 

• Drip, Drip, Drip
• Splashes
• Tears
• Cleansing Rain
• Rivers Flow
• Waves
• Tsunami

The authors are from all over BC from Haida Gwaii to Vancouver Island.

Educator Information
Useful for English Language Arts courses for grades 10-12.

Additional Information
248 pages | 6.00" x 9.00"

Designed as an introduction for Cree language learners, Beginning Cree acts as a self-study aid--a much-needed resource in today's world where most students cannot speak Cree fluently. Basic grammar units and everyday vocabulary items guide the student through the building blocks of the language, and expansion drills and exercises reinforce lessons and prepare the student for further study. With over 100 delightful illustrations, Beginning Cree grounds the language in traditional and contemporary contexts.

Educator & Series Information
This book is recommended for ages 12+.

Table of Contents
Chapter One: Introduction
Chapter Two: Nouns
Chapter Three: Prepositions and Pronouns
Chapter Four: Animate Intransitive Verbs
Chapter Five: Inanimate Intransitive Verbs
Chapter Six: Possessives: Kinship Terms
Chapter Seven: Transitive Inanimate Verbs
Chapter Eight: Transitive Animate Verbs
Verb Charts
Conjugation Patterns
Vocabulary List
Bibliography
Notes

The Canadian Indigenous Books for School list recommends this resource for Grades 1-12 for these subject areas: Indigenous Language Studies, Language Studies.

Part of the Indigenous Languages for Beginners series.

The book is specifically geared towards learners of the Plains Cree "Y" dialect, also known as the "Y" dialect.

Additional Information
165 pages | 8.50" x 11.00" | black and white illustrations | spiral bound

Francis Pegahmagabow (1889–1952), a member of the Ojibwe nation, was born in Shawanaga, Ontario. Enlisting at the onset of the First World War, he became the most decorated Canadian Indigenous soldier for bravery and the most accomplished sniper in North American military history. After the war, Pegahmagabow settled in Wasauksing, Ontario. He served his community as both chief and councillor and belonged to the Brotherhood of Canadian Indians, an early national Indigenous political organization. Francis proudly served a term as Supreme Chief of the National Indian Government, retiring from office in 1950.

Francis Pegahmagabow’s stories describe many parts of his life and are characterized by classic Ojibwe narrative. They reveal aspects of Francis’s Anishinaabe life and worldview. Interceding chapters by Brian McInnes provide valuable cultural, spiritual, linguistic, and historic insights that give a greater context and application for Francis’s words and world. Presented in their original Ojibwe as well as in English translation, the stories also reveal a rich and evocative relationship to the lands and waters of Georgian Bay.

In Sounding Thunder, Brian McInnes provides new perspective on Pegahmagabow and his experience through a unique synthesis of Ojibwe oral history, historical record, and Pegahmagabow family stories.

Awards

• Fred Landon Award, Ontario Historical Society (2018)
• American Book Award, Before Columbus Foundation (2017)

In a career that has spanned more than a quarter century, Lee Maracle has earned the reputation as one of Canada's most ardent and celebrated writers. Talking to the Diaspora, Maracle's second book of poetry, is at once personal and profound. From the revolutionary "Where Is that Odd Dandelion-Looking-Flower" to the tender poem "Salmon Dance," from the biting "Language" to the elegiac "Boy in the Archives," these poems embody the fearless passion and spirited wit for which Lee Maracle is beloved and revered.

Reviews
"Lee Maracle is one of our greatest gifts. Always smart, smooth and full of sly smiles, Maracle's latest, Talking to the Diaspora is a beautiful collection of thoughtful, rhythmic gems. Poetry is so lucky to have her back again.—Katherena Vermette, Governor General Award winning author of North End Love Songs

"The book’s unconventional and striking design, which alternates between black text on white and white text on a black background, lets us know that Talking to the Diaspora is not like other collections of poetry. The unnumbered pages contain full-page images of textured stone surfaces and grassland that serve as a reminder of the transitory nature of our words and songs... Talking to the Diaspora is a full, varied and energetic collection that ranges over a lifetime's worth of experience and engagement with the world. Here, Lee Maracle generously gives us a vision of the holistic, complex and fluid relationships between her peoples' history, their traumas, memories, bodies, songs, spirits, dreams and lives. Talking to the Diaspora is a rallying cry from a poet who draws from a "from a pool of ancient meaning" to lead us to regeneration and renewal...these poems are not meant merely to be read, but also to be lived.—Phoebe Wang, The Winnipeg Review

Educator Information
This book is recommended for students in grades 10-12 and those at a college/university level for courses in creative writing, English, poetry, and English language arts.

Additional Information
120 pages | 5.00" x 9.00"

The first comprehensive lexicographic work on Cayuga, an Iroquoian language spoken in southern Ontario at Six Nations of the Grand River, this dictionary, combines the work of Dyck, a professor of linguistics, and Froman, Keye, and Keye, all Cayuga language teachers at Six Nations. It contains over 3000 entries, including 1000 verb forms and many nouns never before printed; extensive cross-referencing, thematic appendices that highlight cultural references and provide 1600 further entries, and a short grammatical sketch complete this accomplished work.

Entries in the main dictionary are organized by bases, which will make the dictionary especially helpful to those learning Cayuga as a second language. The dictionary's accuracy and extensiveness will make it an indispensable reference not only to the Cayuga speaker and student, but also to other Iroquoian speakers, linguists, anthropologists, and historians of Indigenous Peoples.

Produced under the auspices of the Sweetgrass First Nations Language Council Inc.

Reviews
"The first extensive dictionary of Cayuga, this benchmark work documents the language in 3,000 entries and in word lists organized thematically in appendixes ... A valuable tool for linguists of Iroquoian languages and anthropologists, as well as those who study the Cayuga language. Summing up: Highly recommended."— R. Hanson, Choice

"A major milestone in Iroquoian studies and an extremely important tool in the preservation of the Cayuga language."— Blair A. Rudes, Department of English, University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Additional Information
786 pages | 6.88" x 9.73" | Paperback

George Kenny is an Anishinaabe poet and playwright who learned traditional ways from his parents before being sent to residential school in 1958. When Kenny published his first book, 1977’s Indians Don’t Cry, he joined the ranks of Indigenous writers such as Maria Campbell, Basil Johnston, and Rita Joe whose work melded art and political action. Hailed as a landmark in the history of Indigenous literature in Canada, this new edition is expected to inspire a new generation of Anishinaabe writers with poems and stories that depict the challenges of Indigenous people confronting and finding ways to live within urban settler society.

Educator & Series Information
Indians Don’t Cry: Gaawin Mawisiiwag Anishinaabeg is the second book in the First Voices, First Texts series, which publishes lost or underappreciated texts by Indigenous artists. This new bilingual edition includes a translation of Kenny’s poems and stories into Anishinaabemowin by Patricia M. Ningewance and an afterword by literary scholar Renate Eigenbrod.

Although most of the books in this series are non-fiction, this one is listed as fiction.

Additional Information
190 pages | 5.50" x 8.50"

Humour is not only the best medicine; it is also an exceptionally useful teaching tool.

So often, it is through humour that the big lessons in life are learned--about responsibility, honour, hard work, and respect. Cree people are known for their wit, so the tales in Woods Cree Stories are filled with humour. The book includes nine stories--including Boys Get Lost, Foolishness, and Animals Become Friends--and a Woods Cree-to-English glossary.

All the stories are presented in Cree syllabics, Standard Roman Orthography, and English translation and can be enjoyed by those new to the language and more advanced learners.

Educator & Series Information
Woods Cree Stories is part of the First Nations Language Readers series. With a mix of traditional and new stories, each First Nations Language Reader introduces an Indigenous language and demonstrates how each language is used today. The University of Regina Press’s long-term goal is to publish all 60+ Indigenous languages of Canada.

Additional Information
138 pages | 5.50" x 8.50"