Gwen Benaway

Last updated

Gwen Benaway
BornGiles Benaway
1987
OccupationPoet
LanguageEnglish
NationalityCanadian
CitizenshipCanadian

Gwen Benaway (born Giles Benaway) is Canadian poet and activist. As of October 2019, She was a PhD candidate in the Women & Gender Studies Institute at the Faculty of Arts & Science at the University of Toronto. [1] Benaway has also written non-fiction for The Globe and Mail and Maclean's . [2]

Contents

Activism

Benaway, who claims Anishinaabe and Métis descent, [3] is a well known advocate for the rights of transgender Indigenous people. [4] However, her claims to Indigenous identity have been called into question. [5]

She has spoken publicly about the healthcare system and transphobia. [6] Benaway has said, ″I guess I can't tell the difference between living and writing, the social and the political, the body and the voice, the binary and the limitlessness of my heart. I'm trans, and by that I mean I'm beyond what the world can contain." [7]

Benaway was one of the most prominent activists against the Toronto Public Library's decision to allow the feminist writer Meghan Murphy and the Radical Feminists Unite group to hold a speaking event at the library in 2019. [8] She protested against the event to express her objection to comments Murphy had made about transgender people and Murphy's opposition to the establishment of transgender rights legislation. [9] In an interview, Benaway said she had been "kettled in the library" by the Toronto police during the protest.[ clarification needed ] [10]

Publications

Benaway's poetry reflects her experience as a trans woman, and often speaks about the ongoing realities of colonial violence. [11] Scholar of LGBT and Two-Spirit Indigenous literatures Lisa Tatonetti described Benaway's work as "aesthetically beautiful" and wrote of Benaway's Passage that "while an incredibly personal book from a self-described feminist confessional poet, Passage, in its lyric beauty, its bravery, and its testament to survival and rebirth, is a gift to readers as well." [12] The peer assessment committee for the Governor General's Literary Awards described Holy Wild as "lyrical rhythmic and fierce. It was an extraordinary experience reading this burning, honest manifesto." [13]

Benaway has published three poetry collections to date, with one further announced:

Benaway curated the following collection of short fiction:

Benaway's writing has been featured in the following collections:

Essays and articles

Awards

In 2015, Benaway was the inaugural winner of the "Legislative Assembly of Ontario Speaker's Award for Young Authors" for Ceremonies for the Dead [24] [25] In 2016 she received the Honour of Distinction from the Dayne Ogilvie Prize for LGBTQ writers. [26]

She won Prism International's Creative Non-Fiction contest in 2017 for her piece "Between a Rock and a Hard Place". [27]

In 2019 Benaway won the Governor General's Literary Award for English poetry for Holy Wild. [28] The collection of poems look at the intersection of Indigenous and transgender identities. [1] The book was also shortlisted for the Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Poetry at the 31st Lambda Literary Award, [29] the Trillium Book Award for Poetry, and the Publishing Triangle Award for Trans and Gender-Variant Literature. [10]

In 2019, Benaway's essay "A Body Like a Home" won a Gold medal in the 42nd National Magazine Awards in the Personal Journalism category. [30]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vivek Shraya</span> Musical artist

Vivek Shraya is a Canadian musician, writer, and visual artist. She currently lives in Calgary, Alberta, where she is an assistant professor in the creative writing program at the University of Calgary. As a trans femme of colour, Shraya often incorporates her identity in her music, writing, visual art, theatrical work, and films. She is a seven-time Lambda Literary Award finalist, and considered a Great Canadian Filmmaker of the Future by CBC Arts.

Trish Salah is an Arab Canadian poet, activist, and academic. She is the author of the poetry collections, Wanting in Arabic, published in 2002 by TSAR Publications and Lyric Sexology Vol. 1, published by Roof Books in 2014. An expanded Canadian edition of Lyric Sexology, Vol. 1 was published by Metonymy Press in 2017.

Armand Garnet Ruffo is a Canadian scholar, filmmaker, writer and poet of Anishinaabe-Ojibwe ancestry. He is a member of the Chapleau Cree First Nation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ivan Coyote</span> Canadian spoken word performer and writer

Ivan E. Coyote is a Canadian spoken word performer, writer, and LGBT advocate. Coyote has won many accolades for their collections of short stories, novels, and films. They also visit schools to tell stories and give writing workshops. The CBC has called Coyote a "gender-bending author who loves telling stories and performing in front of a live audience." Coyote is non-binary and uses singular they pronouns. Many of Coyote's stories are about gender, identity, and social justice. Coyote currently resides in Vancouver, British Columbia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dayne Ogilvie Prize</span> Canadian literary award

The Dayne Ogilvie Prize for LGBTQ Emerging Writers is a Canadian literary award, presented annually by the Writers' Trust of Canada to an emerging Canadian writer who is part of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer community. Originally presented as a general career achievement award for emerging writers that considered their overall body of work, since 2022 it has been presented to honor debut books.

Leo Yerxa is a Canadian visual artist, medallist, and writer. As an illustrator of children's picture books he won the Governor General's Award in 2006. He lived in Ottawa, Ontario, then. He died on September 1, 2017.

Kai Cheng Thom is a Canadian writer and former social worker. Thom, a non-binary trans woman, has published four books, including the novel Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars: A Dangerous Trans Girl's Confabulous Memoir (2016), the poetry collection a place called No Homeland (2017), a children's book, From the Stars in The Sky to the Fish in the Sea (2017), and I Hope We Choose Love: A Trans Girl's Notes from the End of the World (2019), a book of essays centered on transformative justice.

Linda LeGarde Grover is an Anishinaabe novelist and short story writer. An enrolled member of the Bois Forte Band of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, she is a professor of American Indian Studies at the University of Minnesota Duluth, as well as a columnist for the Duluth News Tribune.

Billy-Ray Belcourt is a poet, scholar, and author from the Driftpile Cree Nation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joshua Whitehead</span> Two spirit poet and novelist

Joshua Whitehead is a Canadian First Nations, two spirit poet and novelist.

Gwen Haworth is a Canadian transgender filmmaker, editor, social worker and instructor, known for her experimental documentaries She's a Boy I Knew (2007) and A Woman With a Past (2014). Haworth is also an advocate for transgender health issues and was chosen in 2014 as one of Vancouver's 12 Remarkable Women at a ceremony on March 8 for International Women's Day.

Cecily Nicholson is a Canadian poet, arts administrator, independent curator, and activist. Originally from Ontario, she is now based in British Columbia. As a writer and a poet, Nicholson has published collections of poetry, contributed to collected literary works, presented public lectures and readings, and collaborated with numerous community organizations. As an arts administrator, she has worked at the Surrey Art Gallery in Surrey, British Columbia, and the artist-run centre Gallery Gachet in Vancouver.

<i>NotYourPrincess</i> 2017 young adult anthology

#NotYourPrincess: Voices of Native American Women is a 2017 young adult anthology edited by Lisa Charleyboy and Mary Beth Leatherdale, and published by Annick Press. The content is by multiple contemporary artists from North America and Canada. It received the American Indian Youth Literature Award and Norma Fleck Award in 2018.

Smokii Sumac is a Ktunaxa and transmasculine poet whose first book of poetry, you are enough: love poems for the end of the world was published in 2018 by Kegedonce Press. The unpublished draft manuscript of the book, then titled "#haikuaday," won the inaugural Indigenous Voices Award for Unpublished English Poetry, while the book itself was awarded the 2019 Indigenous Voices Award for English Poetry.

The murder of Canadian transgender rights activist Julie Berman occurred in downtown Toronto. Berman was found in a home with severe head injuries on 22 December 2019; she was brought to a hospital and pronounced dead. Colin Harnack was charged with second-degree murder, and he was convicted in December 2022. The murder of Berman was cited as a prominent example of violence against trans people in Canada.

Arielle Twist is a Nehiyaw (Cree) multidisciplinary artist and sex educator based in Halifax, Nova Scotia located in Canada. She is originally from George Gordon First Nation in Saskatchewan. and identifies as a Two-Spirit, transgender woman She was mentored in her early career by writer Kai Cheng Thom and has since published a collection of poems in 2019 in her book Disintegrate / Dissociate, began working as a sex educator at Venus Envy and become an MFA candidate at OCAD University Graduate Studies in the Interdisciplinary Art, Media and Design (IAMD) program. Twist has also expanded her artistry past poetry into visual and performance art. Over her time as an artist, Arielle Twist has had her work featured in Khyber Centre for the Arts, Toronto Media Arts Centre, La Centrale Galerie Powerhouse, Centre for Art Tapes, Art Gallery of Mississauga, Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, and Agnes Etherington Art Centre. Twist has also won the Indigenous Voices Award for English poetry and the Dayne Ogilvie Prize for emerging LGBTQ writers in 2020.

Eli Clare is an American writer, activist, educator, and speaker. His work focuses on queer, transgender, and disability issues. Clare was one of the first scholars to popularize the bodymind concept.

<i>Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars</i> 2016 novel

Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars: A Dangerous Trans Girl's Confabulous Memoir is a 2016 Canadian book by Kai Cheng Thom. A surrealist novel, it follows an unnamed transgender woman protagonist who leaves home at a young age to live on the Street of Miracles—where various sex work takes place—with other "femmes". After one of them is killed, others form a gang and begin to attack men on the street.

<i>Little Fish</i> (novel) 2018 novel by Casey Plett

Little Fish is a novel by Casey Plett, published May 1, 2018 by Arsenal Pulp Press. Centring transgender characters in Plett's hometown of Winnipeg, the book won the Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Fiction in 2018.

References

  1. 1 2 Jankovic, Jovana (29 October 2019). "Gwen Benaway and two other U of T community members win Governor General's Literary Awards". University of Toronto News. Retrieved 2020-03-02.
  2. ↑ Lindsay, James (5 September 2018). "'Our Intimate Relations Reveal so much of our Oppressions', an Interview with Gwen Benaway". Open Book. Archived from the original on 2019-03-06. Retrieved 2019-03-04.
  3. ↑ About Gwen Benaway. Official site, Accessed 26 June 2020. "Gwen Benaway is a trans girl of Anishinaabe and Métis descent."
  4. ↑ "Gwen Benaway on the Convergence of Knowing and "Holy Wild"". the Town Crier. 2017-09-27. Retrieved 2018-10-24.
  5. ↑ Niigaan Sinclair, "Claims of Indigenous identity often fraudulent". Winnipeg Free Press , August 31, 2020.
  6. ↑ "When it comes to health care, transphobia persists" . Retrieved 2018-10-24.
  7. ↑ Desai, Saima (October 29, 2018). "To create other worlds inside this one". briarpatchmagazine.com. Retrieved 2019-03-04.
  8. ↑ Thompson, Nicole (2019-10-27). "Planned event reignites debate about libraries' role as forum for free speech". CP24. Retrieved 2019-10-28.
  9. ↑ "Hundreds protest Toronto library event featuring controversial speaker". CBC News. The Canadian Press. October 29, 2019. Retrieved March 2, 2020.
  10. 1 2 Corkum, Trevor (11 November 2019). "The Chat with Governor General's Literary Award Winner Gwen Benaway". 49thshelf.com. Retrieved 2020-03-02.
  11. ↑ Faulkner, Sandra (2019). Poetic Inquiry As Social Justice and Political Response. Delaware: Vernon Press. p. 68. ISBN   978-1-62273-752-9.
  12. ↑ View of REVIEW ESSAY. Weaving the Present, Writing the Future: Benaway, Belcourt, and Whitehead's Queer Indigenous Imaginaries | Transmotion
  13. ↑ "Holy Wild | GGBooks 2019 (Poetry)". Governor General's Literary Awards. Archived from the original on 2020-03-02. Retrieved 2020-03-02.
  14. ↑ "Six Indigenous writers to watch". CBC Books, July 9, 2017.
  15. ↑ "Leanne Betasamosake Simpson's This Accident of Being Lost and Gwen Benaway's passage, reviewed: Multiple realms". The Globe and Mail , March 31, 2017.
  16. ↑ Volmers, Eric (2020-02-26). "'Reluctant' activist and trans poet to participate in three-generation Indigenous panel | Calgary Herald" . Retrieved 2020-03-04.
  17. ↑ "Maiden, Mother, And Crone: Fantastical Trans Femmes, Book by Gwen Benaway (Paperback) | chapters.indigo.ca". indigo.ca. Retrieved 2018-12-20.
  18. ↑ "A Body Like a Home". Hazlitt. 2018-05-30. Retrieved 2019-10-28.
  19. ↑ Benaway, Gwen (2019-05-03). "Repair". GUTS. Archived from the original on 2019-10-21. Retrieved 2019-10-28.
  20. ↑ "Pussy". carte blanche. 2018-12-12. Retrieved 2019-10-28.
  21. ↑ "Gwen Benaway". Gwen Benaway. Archived from the original on 2018-12-21. Retrieved 2018-12-20.
  22. ↑ Ahkii: a Woman is a Sovereign Land | Transmotion
  23. ↑ "Junot Diaz Abuse: What The Writer Doesn't Say in His 'New Yorker' Essay". www.flare.com. Archived from the original on 2019-10-28. Retrieved 2019-10-28.
  24. ↑ "Past Winners - Young Authors Award". Legislative Assembly of Ontario. 9 March 2015. Retrieved 28 March 2024.
  25. ↑ "A transgender poet reflects on her first year of experiencing womanhood | CBC Arts". CBC. Retrieved 2018-10-24.
  26. ↑ "Vancouver poet Leah Horlick wins 2016 LGBT literary award". The Georgia Straight , June 10, 2016.
  27. ↑ "The 2017 Creative Non-Fiction Contest Winners". Prism International , October 5, 2017.
  28. ↑ van Koeverden, Jane (October 29, 2019). "Here are the winners of the 2019 Governor General's Literary Awards". CBC Books. Retrieved October 29, 2019.
  29. ↑ Ryan Porter, "Vivek Shraya, Joshua Whitehead among Canadian finalists for Lambda Literary Awards". Quill & Quire , March 7, 2019.
  30. ↑ "Announcing the Winners of the 42nd Annual National Magazine Awards". National Magazine Awards. 2019-06-01. Retrieved 2020-03-02.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.