Margaret Manuel is a Salish writer of children's literature.
Manuel, who was born in Kamloops and raised in Merritt, British Columbia, is descended from Syilx and Secwépemc ancestors. [1] She learned the Syilx Okanagan language at home, but is not fluent. [1] Manuel is a graduate of the National Aboriginal Professional Artist Training Program at the En'owkin Centre in Penticton. [2]
Her first book, I See Me, is a board book aimed at children up to age three. [3] The book features photographs of Manuel's son, Qwyula?xw, engaged in different activities, often with traditional indigenous toys or instruments. [2] [3] Each photograph is captioned with an English phrase of the form "I see me ...", followed by a blank line where parents are encouraged to translate the illustrated activity into their own language. [3] [4] The book was published by Theytus Books in 2010 and was shortlisted for a 2010 New York Book Festival award and a 2012 American Indian Youth Literature Award. [2] [5] [6] It was a bestseller in Canada. [7]
In 2016, she published a sequel, I am Proud of Me, which again features photographs of her son with captions in English and Okanagan. [1]
Bobbi Lee Maracle was an Indigenous Canadian writer and academic of the Sto꞉lo nation. Born in North Vancouver, British Columbia, she left formal education after grade 8 to travel across North America, attending Simon Fraser University on her return to Canada. Her first book, an autobiography called Bobbi Lee: Indian Rebel, was published in 1975. She wrote fiction, non-fiction, and criticism and held various academic positions. Maracle's work focused on the lives of Indigenous people, particularly women, in contemporary North America.
Penticton is a city in the Okanagan Valley of the Southern Interior of British Columbia, Canada, situated between Okanagan and Skaha lakes. In the 2016 Canadian Census, its population was 33,761, while its census agglomeration population was 43,432.
The Okanagan, also known as the Okanagan Valley and sometimes as the Okanagan Country, is a region in the Canadian province of British Columbia defined by the basin of Okanagan Lake and the Canadian portion of the Okanagan River. It is part of the Okanagan Country, extending into the United States as Okanogan County in north-central Washington. According to the 2016 Canadian census, the region's population is 362,258. The largest populated cities are Kelowna, Penticton, Vernon and West Kelowna.
Quill & Quire, a Canadian magazine about the book and publishing industry, was launched in 1935 and has an average circulation of 5,000 copies per issue, with a publisher-claimed readership of 25,000. Quill & Quire reviews books and magazines and provides a forum for discussion of trends in the publishing industry. The publication is considered a significant source of short reviews for new Canadian books.
Jeannette Christine Armstrong is a Canadian author, educator, artist, and activist. She was born and grew up on the Penticton Indian reserve in British Columbia's Okanagan Valley, and fluently speaks both the Syilx and English language. Armstrong has lived on the Penticton Native Reserve for most of her life and has raised her two children there. In 2013, she was appointed Canada Research Chair in Okanagan Indigenous Knowledge and Philosophy.
Sigmund Brouwer is a prolific Canadian author of children's, young adult, and adult books. He has over 100 titles and four million books in print.
The Syilx people, also known as the Okanagan, Okanogan or Okinagan people, are a First Nations and Native American people whose traditional territory spans the Canada–US boundary in Washington state and British Columbia in the Okanagan Country region. They are part of the Interior Salish ethnological and linguistic grouping. The Syilx are closely related to the Spokan, Sinixt, Nez Perce, Pend Oreille, Secwepemc and Nlaka'pamux peoples of the same Northwest Plateau region.
Okanagan, or Colville-Okanagan, or Nsyilxcən, is a Salish language which arose among the indigenous peoples of the southern Interior Plateau region based primarily in the Okanagan River Basin and the Columbia River Basin in precolonial times in Canada and the United States. Following British, American, and Canadian colonization during the 1800s and the subsequent assimilation of all Salishan tribes, the use of Colville-Okanagan declined drastically.
Zoe Whittall is a Canadian poet, novelist and TV writer. She has published four novels and three poetry collections to date.
Frances Greenslade is a Canadian writer. She grew up with four sisters and one brother playing among the orchards of the Niagara Peninsula. The family moved to Winnipeg, Manitoba, when she was ten. Greenslade earned a degree in English at the University of Winnipeg before moving to Vancouver, British Columbia, where she completed her MFA in Creative Writing at the University of British Columbia in 1992. In 2005 Frances and her family moved to Penticton, in the southern Okanagan, where her love of British Columbia's landscape flourished and was a source of inspiration in writing Shelter, her first novel. Greenslade now lives in Penticton, British Columbia, where she teaches English Literature at Okanagan College.
Canadian Women in Literary Arts (CWILA) was a Canadian non-profit organization that was founded in Spring 2012 and active until early 2019. CWILA was the foremost compiler of gender-related statistics on Canadian book-review culture. Beyond simply revealing gender disparity in Canadian book-review culture, CWILA aimed to lead toward positive change from within the Canadian literary community.
Indigenous peoples of Canada are culturally diverse. Each group has its own literature, language and culture. The term "Indigenous literature" therefore can be misleading. As writer Jeannette Armstrong states in one interview, "I would stay away from the idea of "Native" literature, there is no such thing. There is Mohawk literature, there is Okanagan literature, but there is no generic Native in Canada".
Catherine Hernandez is a Canadian writer, whose debut novel Scarborough was a shortlisted finalist for the 2017 Toronto Book Awards and the 2018 Edmund White Award.
Ashley Spires is a Canadian children's book author and illustrator. She is the creator of the Binky the Space Cat graphic novels series and the 2014 bestseller, The Most Magnificent Thing.
Shannon Webb-Campbell is Canadian writer, poet and editor. She is descended from Miꞌkmaq people from the Qalipu First Nation in Newfoundland.
Greg Younging was a Canadian editor and expert on First Nations copyright. He was a member of the Opaskwayak Cree Nation. He was the managing editor at Theytus books and published "Elements of Indigenous Style: A Guidebook for Writing By and About Indigenous Peoples" in 2018. Younging died on 3 May 2019 in Penticton, British Columbia.
Waubgeshig Rice is an Anishinaabe writer and journalist from the Wasauksing First Nation near Parry Sound, Ontario, in Canada. Rice has been recognized for his work throughout Canada, including an appearance at Wordfest's 2018 Indigenous Voices Showcase in Calgary.
Dawn Dumont is a Plains Cree writer, former lawyer, comedian and journalist from the Okanese First Nation in Saskatchewan, Canada.
Philippa Dowding is a Canadian writer of children's literature, whose novel Firefly was the winner of the Governor General's Award for English-language children's literature at the 2021 Governor General's Awards.
Jacqueline Guest is a Métis writer and activist from Alberta, Canada. Guest is a literacy advocate and a writers of books for children and young adults. In 2017 she was inducted into the Order of Canada.