Join us for a reading and conversation with Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm and Dallas Hunt presenting on Akiwenzie-Damm’s recently released poetry anthology,  (Re)Generation: The Poetry of Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm, edited with an introduction by Hunt. Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm is a profoundly influential figure in Indigneous literature, founding Kegedonce Press. Kegedonce has published and been supporting Indigenous authors, illustrators, editors, and designers since 1993. Akiwenzie-Damm’s own writing, both critical and creative, is similarly path-clearing, throwing into relief the nuances and complexities of Indigenous erotica and inviting Indigneous conversation on a global scale (well before global Indigenous literatures was an established part of the field. Akiwenzie-Damm’s latest collection,

(Re)Generation, edited with an introduction by Cree poet and scholar, Dallas Hunt, contains selected poetry exploring a range of issues: from violence against Indigenous women and lands to Indigenous erotica and the joyous intimate encounters between bodies. The introduction by Hunt locates her work within the field of Indigenous literature and meditates on her influence on the field of Indigenous erotica.   

Hunt and Akiwenzie-Damm will join David Gaertner in conversation about their collaboration and some of the themes that stretch across Akiwenzie-Damm’s distinguished career as a poet, publisher, and cultural worker. Resilience, love, sexuality, anger, and Indigenous brilliance are just some of the themes that will resonate throughout this event.   

Speakers

Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm is a member of the Saugeen Ojibway Nation, Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation, on the Saugeen Peninsula in Ontario. Kateri is a poet, writer, spoken word artist, Indigenous arts advocate, publisher, and educator. She is an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto Scarborough, teaching creative writing, Indigenous literatures, and oral traditions in the English Department. Previously, she has taught creative writing and Indigenous literatures at the University of Manitoba, the Banff Centre’s Aboriginal Arts Program, and the En’owkin International School of Writing in partnership with the University of Victoria. Her publications encompass fiction, non-fiction, radio plays, television and film, libretti, a graphic novel, spoken word CDs, and two collections of poetry. Her teaching and creative work is firmly decolonial, a practice of cultural resurgence, affirmation and survivance. Kateri is a nominee for the 2021 Ontario Arts Council Indigenous Arts Award and a recipient of a 2016 Hnatyshyn Foundation REVEAL Indigenous Arts Award for writing. Her 2015 book of short stories, The Stone Collection, was a finalist for the Sarton Literary Book Awards, and her collaborative recording A Constellation of Bones was a nominee for a 2008 Canadian Aboriginal Music Award. Kateri was the 2011–2012 Poet Laureate for Owen Sound and North Grey. She initiated and was a co-organizer of the first Indigenous Comics Symposium in 2021 and founded and co- ordinated the first Honouring Words: International Indigenous Authors Celebration Tour in 2003. She is the founder and publisher of Kegedonce Press, Ontario’s longest-running Indigenous literary publisher. Recently, Kateri recorded the audiobook for The Stone Collection and completed Reconciling the Books, a new collection of poetry. She is currently working on a collection of humorous short stories and her second graphic novel. Kateri lives with her mother Julie and the two loves of her life, her sons Kegedonce and Gaadoohn.

Dallas Hunt is Cree and a member of Wapsewsipi (Swan River First Nation) in Treaty Eight territory in northern Alberta. He has had creative work published in Contemporary Verse 2, Prairie Fire, PRISM international and Arc Poetry. His first children’s book, Awâsis and the World-famous Bannock, was published through Highwater Press in 2018. His new book, CREELAND, is out through Nightwood Editions. Hunt is an assistant professor of Indigenous literatures at the University of British Columbia.

Location Details

Location:

*ONLINE*

If you have any questions, concerns, or accessibility needs please email open.ubc@ubc.ca.

This event is part of the Honouring Indigenous Writers series, which seeks to increase awareness of Indigenous authors.  This year we have put together a schedule of author readings and workshops throughout the month of March, as well as asynchronous Wikipedia increase awareness of Indigenous literature, and improve the coverage of Indigenous writers on Wikipedia.

This event is online. Registrants receive the link 24 hours before the event.