The Indigenous Voices Awards are a Canadian literary award program, created in 2017 to honour Indigenous literatures in Canada. [1] It is administered by the Indigenous Literary Studies Association, [1] a non-profit organization that promotes the production, study and teaching of Indigenous literatures. [2]
The awards grew out of a 2017 controversy, when a group of Canadian writers were criticized for campaigning on Twitter in favour of a prize supporting cultural appropriation. [3] In response, Toronto lawyer Robin Parker launched a crowdfunding campaign to create a new prize for First Nations, Métis and Inuit writers in Canada. The crowdfunding campaign was set with a goal of $10,000, but ultimately attracted over $140,000 in donations. [1]
The awards honour both published and unpublished work by Indigenous writers in Indigenous languages, English and French. [4] The first winners were announced in May 2018. [5] On National Indigenous Peoples Day, June 21, 2022, IVA announced that an anthology of selected works by the finalists will be published by Penguin Random House Canada in 2023 to celebrate the 5th anniversary of the award. [4]
| Year | Category | Author | Title | Award |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Alternative Format | Mich Cota | Musical Selections | Winner |
| Mika Lafond | Nipê Wânîn | Winner | ||
| Keith Barker | This is How We Got Here | Finalist | ||
| Cliff Cardinal | Huff & Stitch | Finalist | ||
| English Poetry | Billy-Ray Belcourt | This Wound Is a World | Winner | |
| Tenille K. Campbell | #IndianLovePoems | Finalist | ||
| Joshua Whitehead | Full-Metal Indigiqueer | Finalist | ||
| English Prose | Aviaq Johnston | Those Who Run in the Sky | Winner | |
| Carleigh Baker | Bad Endings | Finalist | ||
| Dawn Dumont | Glass Beads | Finalist | ||
| Joanne Robertson | The Water Walker | Finalist | ||
| French Prose | J. D. Kurtness | De Vengeance | Winner | |
| Naomi Fontaine | Manikanetish | Finalist | ||
| Unpublished English Poetry | Smokii Sumac | #haikuaday and other poems | Winner | |
| David Agecoutay | Poetic Selections | Finalist | ||
| Brandi Bird | Two Poems | Finalist | ||
| Francine Merasty | Poetry of a Northern Rez Girl | Finalist | ||
| Unpublished French Poetry | Marie-Andrée Gill | Uashteu | Winner | |
| Unpublished Prose | Elaine McArthur | Queen Bee | Winner | |
| Treena Chambers | Hair Raizing | Finalist | ||
| Nazbah Tom | The Hand Trembler | Finalist | ||
| Amanda Peters | Pejipug (Winter Arrives) | Finalist | ||
| 2019 [6] | Alternative Format | Tasha Spillett and Natasha Donovan | Surviving the City | Winner |
| Kìzis | Wàsakozi | Finalist | ||
| English Poetry | Smokii Sumac | You are Enough: Love Poems for the End of the World | Winner | |
| Wanda John-Kehewin | Seven Sacred Truths | Finalist | ||
| Jules Arita Koostachin | Unearthing of Secrets, Gathering of Truths | Finalist | ||
| English Prose | Tanya Tagaq | Split Tooth | Winner | |
| Lindsay Nixon | nîtisânak | Finalist | ||
| Joshua Whitehead | Jonny Appleseed | Finalist | ||
| French Prose | Joséphine Bacon | Uiesh, Quelque Part | Winner | |
| Pierrot Ross-Tremblay | Nipimanitu – L’esprit de l’eau | Winner | ||
| Indigenous Language | Francine Merasty | Iskotew Iskwew | Winner | |
| Unpublished English Poetry | Elaine McArthur | Brush of a Bustle | Winner | |
| Autumn Schnell | FemmNDN Commandments | Finalist | ||
| Craig Commanda | My Ghosts Roam this Land and other poems | Finalist | ||
| Unpublished English Prose | Francine Cunningham | Teenage Asylums | Winner | |
| Blair Yoxall | Little Bull | Finalist | ||
| Brittany Johnson | Transit | Finalist | ||
| 2020 [7] | Alternative Format | Elaine McArthur | Elizabeth Dances Pow-wow | Winner |
| Phyllis Webstad | Phyllis’s Orange Shirt | Finalist | ||
| English Poetry | Michelle Sylliboy | Kiskajeyi—I am Ready | Winner | |
| Arielle Twist | Disintegrate / Dissociate | Winner | ||
| Brandi Bird | I Am Still Too Much | Finalist | ||
| Francine Cunningham | On/Me | Finalist | ||
| English Prose | Jesse Thistle | From the Ashes | Winner | |
| Helen Knott | In My Own Moccasins | Finalist | ||
| Kaitlyn Purcell | ʔbédayine | Finalist | ||
| French Poetry | Maya Cousineau Mollen | Bréviaire du matricule 082 | Winner | |
| Marie-Andrée Gill | Chauffer le dehors | Winner | ||
| French Prose | Naomi Fontaine | Shuni — Ce que tu dois savoir, Julie | Winner | |
| J. D. Kurtness | Aquariums | Finalist | ||
| Indigenous Language | Rene Meshake | Injichaag: My Soul in Story | Winner | |
| Cole Pauls | Dakwäkãda Warriors | Winner | ||
| Unpublished Poetry in English | Keely Shirt | Two Little Foxes, Buttertown Beach, and I Will Never Be Happier | Winner | |
| David Agecoutay | Willow A Quartet | Finalist | ||
| Corri Daniels | A Memory of Mary | Finalist | ||
| Unpublished Prose in English | Cody Caetano | Half-Bads in White Regalia | Winner | |
| Treena Chambers | Forest Fires and Falling Stars | Finalist | ||
| Steven Hall | Gatzi Naka | Finalist | ||
| 2021 | English Prose | Nathan Niigan Noodin Adler | Ghost Lake | Winner |
| Jenn Ashton | People Like Frank | Finalist | ||
| Michelle Good | Five Little Indians | Finalist | ||
| Michael Hutchinson | The Case of the Missing Auntie | Finalist | ||
| Katłįà Land-Water-Sky | Ndè-Tı-Yat’a | Finalist | ||
| English Creative Nonfiction and Life-Writing | Bevann Fox | Genocidal Love | Winner | |
| Karen Pheasant-Neganigwane | Powwow: A Celebration through Song and Dance | Finalist | ||
| Michelle Porter | Approaching Fire | Finalist | ||
| English Poetry | jaye simpson | it was never going to be okay | Winner | |
| Norma Dunning | Eskimo Pie: A Poetics of Inuit Identity | Finalist | ||
| shalan joudry | Waking Ground | Finalist | ||
| Tyler Pennock | Bones | Finalist | ||
| French Poetry | Shayne Michael | Fif et sauvage | Winner | |
| Félix Perkins | Boiteur des bois | Finalist | ||
| French Prose | Émilie Monnet | Okinum | Winner | |
| Jocelyn Sioui | Mononk Jules | Finalist | ||
| Graphic Novels, Comics, and Illustrated Books | Brianna Jonnie with Nahanni Shingoose, Neal Shannacappo (illus.) | If I Go Missing | Winner | |
| Lisa Boivin | I Will See You Again | Finalist | ||
| Tasha Spillett, with Natasha Donovan (illus.) | From the Roots Up: Surviving the City Vol. 2 | Finalist | ||
| Indigenous Language | Zacharias Kunuk with Megan Kyak-Monteith (illus.) | The Shaman's Apprentice: Inuktitut | Winner | |
| Unpublished Poetry in English | Samantha Martin-Bird | the indian (adultery) act & other poems | Winner | |
| Brandi Bird | Ode to Diabetes | Finalist | ||
| Erica Violet Lee | A Manifesto for the Morning and Forever After | Finalist | ||
| Shaya MacDonald | She Said to Me | Finalist | ||
| Unpublished Prose in English | Amanda Peters | Waiting for the Long Night Moon | Winner | |
| Troy Sebastian | The Mission | Finalist | ||
| Deanna M. Jacobson | Hockey and Hot Chocolate | Finalist | ||
| 2022 | English Prose | Brian Thomas Isaac | All the Quiet Places | Winner |
| Sheryl Doherty | Finding Izzy | Finalist | ||
| English Poetry | Selina Boan | Undoing Hours | Winner | |
| Tenille K. Campbell | nedí nezų | Finalist | ||
| Dallas Hunt | Creeland | Finalist | ||
| Diana Hope Tegenkamp | Girl running | Finalist | ||
| French Language | Édouard Itual Germain | Ni kistisin / Je me souviens | Winner | |
| Andrée Levesque Sioui | Chant(s) | Finalist | ||
| Daniel Sioui | Indien stoïque | Finalist | ||
| Graphic Novels, Comics, and Illustrated Books | Aimée Craft | Treaty Words: For As Long As the Rivers Flow | Winner | |
| Lisa Boivin | We Dream Medicine Dreams | Finalist | ||
| Teoni Spathelfer with Natassia Davies (illus.) | White Raven | Finalist | ||
| Indigenous Language | Brittany Luby with Joshua Mangeshig Pawis-Steckley (illus.) and Alvin Ted Corbiere (trans.) and Alan Corbiere (trans.) | Mii maanda ezhi-gkendmaanh / This Is How I Know | Winner | |
| Jodie Callaghan, with Georgia Lesley (illus.) and Joe Wilmot (trans.) | Ga’s / The Train | Finalist | ||
| Sharon King | Amik | Finalist | ||
| Unpublished Prose in English | Leslie Butt | Tanked | Winner | |
| David Agecoutay | It’s For the Best | Finalist | ||
| Jenn Ashton | Hail Mary, Mother of Pearl | Finalist | ||
| Bianca Martin | Paqt’sm / I Was Born with the Spirit of the Wolf | Finalist | ||
| Unpublished Poetry in English | Meghan Eaker | mistahi maskikiy | Winner | |
| Brandi Bird | A Dawn | Finalist | ||
| Jacqueline Gibbon | tante ohci kiya / Displaced Métis Iskwew | Finalist | ||
| Samantha Martin-Bird | Poems for White Men | Finalist | ||
| 2023 | English Prose | Cody Caetano | Half-Bads in White Regalia | Winner |
| Francine Cunningham | God Isn't Here Today | Finalist | ||
| Frances Koncan | Women of the Fur Trade | |||
| Kim Spencer | Weird Rules to Follow | |||
| Chelsea Vowel | Buffalo Is the New Buffalo | |||
| Joshua Whitehead | Making Love with the Land | |||
| French Prose | Carole Labarre | L'Or des mélèzes | Winner | |
| J. D. Kurtness | Bienvenue | Finalist | ||
| Jocelyn Sioui | Frétillant et agile | |||
| English Poetry | Emily Riddle | The Big Melt | Winners | |
| Matthew James Weigel | Whitemud Walking | |||
| Justene Dion-Glowa | Trailer Park Shakes | Finalist | ||
| Ashley Qilavaq-Savard | Where the Sea Kuniks the Land | |||
| Délani Valin | Shapeshifters | |||
| French Poetry | Maya Cousineau Mollen | Enfants du lichen | Winner | |
| Rita Mestokosho | Atik u utei | Finalist | ||
| Indigenous Language | Solomon Awa | Animals Illustrated: Narwhal | Winner | |
| George Paul, Loretta Gould, Barbara Sylliboy | The Honour Song | Finalist | ||
| Unpublished prose in English | David Agecoutay | "Frank" | Winner | |
| Brandi Bird | "Home" | Finalist | ||
| Kerissa Dickie | "Seh Woo – My Teeth" | |||
| Henry Heavyshield | "Settler Birds and Social NDNs in the City" | |||
| Scarlet Scott | "In the Morning" | |||
| Unpublished poetry in English | Cooper Skjeie | "Scattered Oblations" | Winner | |
| Leah Baptiste | "Rez Girls Are Forever" | Finalist | ||
| Kelsey Borgford | "Once the Smudge Is Lit" | |||
| Kaitlyn Purcell | "A Child Called Dream" | |||
| Graphic novels | Samantha Beynon, Lucy Trimble | Oolichan Moon | Winner | |
| Raeann Brown | Bedtime in Nunatsiavut | Finalist | ||
| Babah Kalluk | Niitu and Chips | |||
| Cole Pauls | Kwändǖr | |||
| Willie Poll with Chief Lady Bird | Together We Drum, Our Hearts Beat as One | |||
| 2024 | English Prose | Alicia Elliott | And Then She Fell | Winner |
| Caleigh Crow | There is Violence and There is Righteous Violence and There is Death or, The Born-Again Crow | Finalist | ||
| Michelle Good | Truth Telling | |||
| Peggy Janicki | The Secret Pocket | |||
| Tiffany Morris | Green Fuse Burning | |||
| Angela Sterritt | Unbroken | |||
| English Poetry | Brandi Bird | The All + Flesh | Winner | |
| Jesse Rae Archibald-Barber | The Star Poems | Finalist | ||
| Jamesie Fournier | Elements | |||
| Cara-Lyn Morgan | Building a Nest from the Bones of My People | |||
| French Prose | J. D. Kurtness | La vallée de l’étrange | Winner | |
| Georges Pisimopeo | Piisim Napeu | |||
| Moira-Uashteskun Bacon | Envole-toi, Mikun | Finalist | ||
| French Poetry/Drama | Soleil Launière | Akuteu | Winner | |
| Alexis Vollant | Nipinapunan | |||
| Émilie Monnet | Marguerite, le feu | Finalist | ||
| Unpublished Prose | Dennis Allen | Kristopher with a K | Winner | |
| Jenn Ashton | Hungry | |||
| Henry Heavyshield | Our Rez Anomaly | |||
| Kaitlyn Purcell | łuk'é náte | |||
| Unpublished Poetry | Leah Baptiste | Coming of Age | Winner | |
| Hannah Big Canoe | Nanabush Trails and Four Others | |||
| sakâw laboucan | styrofoam love | |||
| Jordan Redekop-Jones | On the Threshold, I Taste Lightning | |||
| 2025 | English Prose | Wayne K. Spear, Georges Erasmus | Hòt’a! Enough!: Georges Erasmus’s Fifty-Year Battle for Indigenous Rights | Finalist |
| Jennifer Leason | Hummingbird/Aamo-binashee | |||
| Trina Rathgeber | Lost at Windy River: A True Story of Survival | |||
| Joelle Peters | Niizh | |||
| Tanya Talaga | The Knowing | |||
| English Poetry | Kenzie Allen | Cloud Missives | Finalist | |
| Kelsey Borgford | Once the Smudge Is Lit | |||
| Aedan Corey | KINAUVUNGA?/ᑭᓇᐅᕗᖓ | |||
| Rosanna Deerchild | She Falls Again | |||
| E. McGregor | What Fills Your House Like Smoke | |||
| French Prose | TBA | |||
| French Poetry/Drama | TBA | |||
| Unpublished Prose | Jesset Karlen | Archive of Forever | Winner | |
| Kieran Rice | Intertribal | |||
| Chantal Rondeau | White Ash Falling | |||
| Nolan Schmerk | Life Is Water | |||
| Jennifer B.S. Williams | Selected Stories from ‘K’wootxw’ | |||
| Unpublished Poetry | Henry Heavyshield | houses made of pollen & other poems | Winner | |
| aleria mckay | Homecoming | |||
| Dawn Amber Tonks | And Then | |||
| Kevin Wesaquate | Shapeshifter | |||