Work by Métis artist Leah Marie Dorion. To discover the artist click here.
INDIGENOUS LITERATURES
In collaboration with
Each edition of the Blue Metropolis Festival includes an Indigenous Voices series, showcasing the richness of Indigenous literatures and their voices and inviting us to look at the world from different perspectives. These diverse voices contribute to a renewal of the literary landscape and speak of the beauty of life, of its grandeur and fragility. The Blue Metropolis Festival is pleased to provide an opportunity for them to be heard.
Learn more about our most recent events and some of the most memorable moments of our previous editions here.
BLUE METROPOLIS FIRST PEOPLES PRIZE / PRIX LITTÉRAIRE DES PREMIERS PEUPLES METROPOLIS BLEU
From 2015 to 2024, the Blue Metropolis First People Prize has helped to raise the national and international profile of writers, from indigenous communities, mainly from Quebec and Canada.The Prize, which carried a grant of $5000 CAD, has been awarded in partnership with the Indigenous Voices Award organization (IVA) for several editions, and we would like to extend our warmest thanks to its directors.
The Prize was last awarded in 2024.
In partnership with:
THE WINNERS
2024
JEAN SIOUI
(First Peoples Prize – in French)
2024
TANYA TALAGA
(First Peoples Prize – in English)
2023
DUNCAN MERCREDI
2023
JOSÉPHINE BACON
(First Peoples Prize – Tribute)
2022
EDEN ROBINSON
2021
RICHARD VAN CAMP
2019
TERESE MARIE MAILHOT
2018
LEE MARACLE
2017
DAVID TREUER
2016
THOMAS KING
2015
MARIE ANNHARTE BAKER
Blue Metropolis First Peoples Prize – International Edition
The Blue Metropolis First Peoples Prize, international edition, is awarded to a very significant native non Canadian author for the high quality of his work, which contributes to a better understanding of indigenous cultures, shows the beauty of the living world, while affirming the power of literature in the face of reality.
The Prize is accompanied by a grant of $5000 CAD. The award ceremony takes place in Montreal, during the Blue Metropolis International Literary Festival.
2025
STEPHEN GRAHAM JONES
RELIVE SOME HIGHLIGHTS OF OUR INDIGENOUS PROGRAMMING FROM THE PAST 4 YEARS
SPRING 2024
INTERVIEW WITH JEAN SIOUI, WINNER OF THE 2024 BLUE METROPOLIS FIRST PEOPLE LITERARY PRIZE (in French)
Ahead of his participation in the 2024 edition of the Blue Metropolis International Literary Festival, Wendat poet Jean Sioui reflects on his work and what it means to him to receive the Blue Metropolis First Peoples Award, presented in partnership with the Indigenous Voices Awards organization.
INTERVIEW_ 15 MINUTES
Participant: Jean Sioui
Interview: Marie-Andrée Lamontagne
French
INTERVIEW WITH TANYA TALAGA, WINNER OF THE
2024 BLUE METROPOLIS FIRST PEOPLE LITERARY PRIZE (in English)
Ahead of his participation in the 2024 edition of the Blue Metropolis International Literary Festival, the Canadian Anishinaabe journalist and author Tanya Talaga looks back on her work and talks about what it means to her to receive the Blue Metropolis First People Prize.
INTERVIEW _ 15 MINUTES
Participant:Tanya Talaga
Interview: Marie-Andrée Lamontagne
English
SPRING 2023
In Canada, September 30 is the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation. To mark the occasion, let’s relive the visit to Montreal of Cree and Métis poet Ducan Mercredi, at the Blue Metropolis 2023 Festival from 27 to 30 April. He received the Blue Metropolis 2023 First Peoples Award, presented in partnership with the Indigenous Voices Award (IVA), and took part in the Blue Met Talks. Some great moments of reflection.
DUNCAN MERCREDI, WINNER OF THE FIRST PEOPLES PRIZE
Winnipeg Cree and Metis poet, writer and storyteller Duncan Mercredi receives the 2023 Blue Metropolis First Peoples Prize (English category) for his body of work, including Spirit of the Wolf: Raise Your Voice and The Duke of Windsor: Wolf Sings the Blue. The award ceremony will be followed by an onstage interview with the laureate and book signing
Participant: Duncan Mercredi
Host: David Bradford
Interview: Sarah Henzi
Language: English
BLUE MET TALKS – DUCAN MERCREDI
Literature is constantly changing, including through heritage. In Montreal, Friday April 28, 2023, during the opening ceremony of the 25th edition of the Blue Metropolis International Literary Festival, five writers attempt to answer the question: What colour will the future be? Relive on stage Duncan Mercredi (Canada), winner of the 2023 First Peoples Prize.
Language: English
INTERVIEW WITH DUNCAN MERCREDI, WINNER OF THE 2023 FIRST PEOPLES LITERARY PRIZE
Short interview of Duncan Mercredi, winner of the 2023 First People Literary Prize.
INTERVIEW_15 minutes
Participant: Duncan Mercredi
Host: Sarah Henzi
Language: English
PRIX DES PREMIERS PEUPLES HOMMAGE À JOSÉPHINE BACON
La poète innue Joséphine Bacon reçoit le prix des Premiers Peuples hommage, décerné par Metropolis bleu et l’organisme Indigenous Voices Award, pour l’ensemble de son œuvre et pour son importante contribution au rayonnement des littératures et des cultures autochtones. Aux remerciements de la lauréate s’ajouteront les témoignages de Sarah Henzi, coordonnatrice du Prix, et des membres du jury, Maurizio Gatti, Marie-Andrée Gill, Joëlle Papillon.
This event was made possible thanks to the financial support of Port of Montreal.
AWARD CEREMONY_40 minutes
Participants: Joséphine Bacon, Maurizio Gatti, Marie-Andrée Gill, Joëlle Papillon
Host: Marie-Andrée Lamontagne
Interview: Sarah Henzi
Language: French
TIO’TIA:KE/MONTREAL WALKING TOUR
Tio’tia:ke, meaning “where the rivers meet” in Mohawk, has had many names, been a gathering place for many First Nations, and is now a point of confluence for Indigenous people and many other peoples alike. And yet, the history of Tio’tia:ke/Montreal most of us know is a white settler story—an often selective, sometimes doctored, at best incomplete account. In Tio’tia:ke/Montreal, Indigenous and settler of colour authors, members of communities underrepresented by the telling of that story, begin to contribute necessary perspectives, personal records, and missing chapters to the history of the place they’ve called home.
Content only available in English
Failure to recognize
An original text written and narrated by Tara McGowan-Ross
If we look south — Montreal south, not true south — towards the great white spire on the St-Jacques Bridge, we are situated in a relatively new dividing line in Montreal’s west end. We are in Notre-Dame-de-Grace, or NDG, which is a middle-class, first-ring suburb of the city. It is one of the most culturally and ethnically diverse in the city. The electoral district also includes Westmount, which begins seven blocks to the east — a historically English neighborhood, which was once the richest community in Canada.
LIFE OF THE STORY: TOMSON HIGHWAY AND EDEN ROBINSON
Two world-renowned Indigenous authors join us for an intimate, retrospective conversation. Tomson Highway, laureate of the 2022 Violet Prize, and Eden Robinson, laureate of the 2022 First Peoples Prize, will take the stage for a special encounter between mediums, between literatures and lives, mourning and joys, reminiscences and what lies ahead.
Participants: Tomson Highway, Eden Robinson
Host: Bimadoshka Pucan
ENGLISH
DISCOVER THE INDIGENOUS VOICES SERIES OF THE 2022 FESTIVAL
AUTUMN 2021
SUJETS PERMIS, SUJETS INTERDITS. LES ÉCRIVAINS PEUVENT-ILS PARLER DE TOUT ?
On dit parfois de l’œuvre d’un.e écrivain.e qu’elle n’aborde au fond qu’un seul sujet. C’est là, sans doute, un autre nom donné à ce qui constitue son univers. Il est des sujets, dit-on aussi, qui ne peuvent être abordés qu’en toute connaissance de cause. Où un écrivain trouve-t-il ses sujets ? Comment et pourquoi s’en emparent-il ? En quoi est-il crédible pour les traiter? Qu’est-ce que l’univers d’un.e écrivain.e ? Est-il en train de rétrécir face à la multiplication d’injonctions morales, éthiques, politiques, voire idéologiques, susceptibles d’instrumentaliser l’œuvre littéraire ?
Participants : Nicholas Dawson, Monique LaRue, Stéphane Martelly, Jean Sioui
Animateur : Guillaume Asselin
Langues : français
Rencontre littéraire organisée par l’Académie des lettres du Québec, en partenariat avec BanQ, le Festival littéraire international Metropolis bleu et le Salon du livre de Montréal, et présentée dans le cadre de la vitrine de Metropolis bleu au Salon du livre de Montréal 2021.
SPRING 2021
RICHARD VAN CAMP RECEIVES THE 2021 BLUE METROPOLIS FIRST PEOPLES LITERARY PRIZE
An internationally renowned storyteller and best-selling author, Richard Van Camp was born in Fort Smith, Northwest Territories, and is a member of the Dogrib (TłĮchǫ) Dene Nation. He is the author of dozens of books, including The Lesser Blessed, a Canadian classic that has been adapted into a feature film. Van Camp uses his oral story-telling skills and traditions to braid together pop culture with TłĮchǫ Dene culture and some Fort Smith grace in his new short story collection Moccasin Square Gardens. He lives in Edmonton, AB, with his family.
The Blue Metropolis First Peoples Literary Prize aims to increase national and international exposure to writers from Indigenous communities in order to highlight the work of novelists, playwrights, poets and other writers. The prize is sponsored by the J.W. McConnell Family Foundation, the Chadha Family Foundation, Concordia University, the Zeller Family Foundation and the Cole Foundation.
Word of support by Ms. Lili-Anna Peresa, President and CEO, The McConnell Foundation.
Participant : Richard Van Camp
Host : Shelley Pomerance
Interviewer : Rosanna Deerchild
ENGLISH
PENSER L’APRÈS : DU SOMBRE AU LUMINEUX ?
Comment envisage-t-on l’Après en science-fiction, cette période qui suit la Fin du monde… ou la fin d’un monde? Quatre écrivaines parlent de ces futurs, proches ou lointains, sombres ou lumineux, qu’elles ont créés : dystopiques, utopiques, postapocalytiques, hopepunk, solarpunk. Doit-on se restreindre aux pôles lumineux et sombre, ou peut-on en explorer les différentes nuances ?
Participants : Geneviève Blouin, J.D. Kurtness, Su Sokol, Élisabeth Vonarburg
Animateur : Anaïs Paquin
FRENCH
SCOTT, SCOFIELD AND MIHESUAH ON ART AND ACTIVISM
Autonomy, systemic racism, climate change: Indigenous peoples worldwide grapple with these issues. Three acclaimed authors discuss art and activism: Kim Scott, descended from the Noongar people of Western Australia, Gregory Scofield, Métis from British Columbia, and Devon A. Mihesuah, a citizen of the Choctaw Nation in the US. With CBC host and author Duncan McCue.
Participants: Kim Scott, Gregory Scofield, Devon A. Mihesuah
Host: Duncan McCue
ENGLISH
AUTOCHTONIE : COMMENT FAIRE CONNAÎTRE ET PROMOUVOIR LES AUTEURS AUTOCHTONES D’OCÉANIE?
AUTUMN 2020
DEVELOPING DIALOGUE
Sites, monuments, histories: New ways of talking about events and symbols from the past are emerging. Three writers explore these evolving conversations, how they’re taking shape, what’s being said. A Blue Metropolis virtual event with Nova Scotia poet and activist El Jones, Anishinaabe writer Waubgeshig Rice, and Canadian-American novelist Deni Ellis Béchard. Moderated by Edmonton-based writer and filmmaker Omar Mouallem.
Participants: El Jones, Waubgeshig Rice, Deni Ellis Béchard
Host: Omar Mouallem
ENGLISH
YOUR OPINION IS IMPORTANT TO US!
AWARDS FOR EXCELLENCE IN INDIGENOUS STUDIES
The Blue Metropolis Awards for Excellence in Indigenous Studies are an initiative of the Blue Metropolis International Literary Festival and the McConnell Foundation. They are part of an expansive social innovation program dedicated to the promotion and bolstering of Indigenous values and cultures. The program includes the First Peoples Literary Prize, a prize awarded annually to an Indigenous author of international renown, an Indigenous storytelling series for children and parents alike, professional meetups focused on the publishing of Indigenous works, and the Awards for Excellence.
The Awards, an important part of this programming, recognize two students, one anglophone and one francophone, studying or holding a degree in Indigenous Studies, Indigenous Literatures, or anthropology with a link to Indigenous Studies. The student candidates presented here have been recruited by seasoned professors at participating universities, and each candidate for the awards presents their strong vision for a better, further inclusive, and further responsible world.
2021 WINNERS
BIANCA LAUNIÈRE
Université de Montréal
Work mentioned:
Je suis une maudite sauvagesse
de An Antane Kapesh
BIOGRAPHY
Bianca Launière est une Innue de Mashteuiatsh, au Lac-Saint-Jean. Elle a grandi sur le territoire non cédé de Kanien’kehá:ka (aujourd’hui Montréal), puis elle a déménagé à Saguenay et obtenu un baccalauréat en psychologie à l’Université du Québec à Chicoutimi. Elle a ensuite entrepris, à partir de son territoire de Mashteuiatsh, des études à distance afin d’obtenir un DÉSS en récits et médias autochtones de l’Université de Montréal.
SPENCER ISAAC
University of New Brunswick
Work mentioned:
This place 150 Years Retold
Collective work
BIOGRAPHY
Spencer Isaac is from Listuguj First Nation, a Mi’gmaq community within Gesgepewa’gi (7th district in Mi’gma’gi) and is the third born of four brothers. He is currently a guest within Wolastoqey territory, and is grateful for their hospitality.
Isaac holds a Bachelor of Arts from Mount Allison University (2018) and is completing the 10-month B.Ed. program at the University of New Brunswick in 2021. His passion is education and he hopes to make meaningful change for Wabanaki learners. He aspires to earn his Master’s degree in education within the next five years.
POETIC FIBRES
A culmination of a year-long, Blue Metropolis-supported collaboration between Tiohtià:ke (Montreal) fibres arts project Gaude et Garance and Indigenous poet and essayist Tara McGowan-Ross, the Poetic Fibres project presents a meeting place of emerging artistic, ethical, and decolonial processes. Presented as part of the Blue Metropolis International Literary Festival’s NEXT programming, this interdisciplinary literary event features a reading of a series of poems written by McGowan-Ross in response to the work of Gaude et Garance and a live performance of the processes Gaude et Garance artists Armen Keuchguerian and Alexandrine Capolla Beauregard employ in making their naturally dyed, locally sourced, handmade alpaca yarns and wool pieces. Exploring textures of land and the landed, of the natural and the naturalized, of slowness and slowing down, this event is presented in conjunction with an online exhibition of the poetic and process documentation works created by the artists, which took place last fall during the Salon de livre de Montréal 2021.
OUR EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS
NEPTUNE
Neptune calls on history, science, reading and technology, to seek out the greatest inventions of all time. The project is funded by Canadian Heritage and runs within the second-language curriculum of participating schools. This year, French immersion students at L’École de la Seigneurie in Blainville, and students in Anglais intensif at Allion Elementary School in LaSalle, climbed aboard Neptune’s shuttle to unleash their imagination, to invent and innovate. With the help of cartoonist Laurence Dea Dionne and multimedia artist Tara McGowan-Ross, our young participants came up with inventions to make life better and, ultimately, to save the world!
QUEBEC ROOTS
Thanks to the financial support of the Ministry of Education and higher learning, Quebec Roots has given a voice to anglophone Quebec schoolchildren since 2005 and encouraged them to speak out on issues as serious as bullying, homophobia, and more recently, eco-anxiety and the distress caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The program is designed, first and foremost, to promote an interest in writing. It is aligned with the school curriculum in order to develop cross-disciplinary skills. The ultimate goal is to keep kids in school. It also fosters intercultural understanding through its exhibitions, by introducing texts and photographs produced by young Anglo-Quebecers to the general public.
THE SECRET IS IN THE SAUCE
In the pursuit of the finer recipes there is in the Quebec English-speaking communities, Monique Polak, author, blogger, moderator and journalist, has crisscrossed Quebec with photographer Monique Dykstra to meet with 20 anglophone seniors. The seniors share family recipes, talk about their lives, feast days, and explain how traditional know-how and culture are passed down through the generations. The 21 recipes are available here: https://bluemetropolis.org/educational-project/secret-sauce/
READING RECOMMENDATIONS FOR ADULTS
Mahikan ka onot, Duncan Mercredi, Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2020
215, Duncan Mercredi, Winnipeg Arts Council, 2021
Message Sticks, Joséphine Bacon, Mawenzi House Publishers Ltd., 2013
A tea in the tundra / Nipishapui nete mushuat, Jospéhine Bacon, Bookland Press, 2017
Dry Lips devrait déménager à Kapuskasing, Tomson Highway, Prise de Parole, 2009 (traduction de Jean Marc Dalpé)
Champion et Ooneemeetoo, Tomson Highway, Prise de Parole, 2004 (traduction de Robert Dickson)
Permanent Astonishment, Tomson Highway, Doubleday Canada, 2021
The Rez Sister, Tomson Highway, Fifth House Books, 1992
Return of the Trickster, Eden Robinson Knopf Canada, 2021
Trickster Drift, Eden Robinson, Knopf Canada, 2019
Son of a Trickster, Eden Robinson, Knopf Canada, 2018
Shuni, Naomi Fontaine, Mémoire d’encrier, coll. Chronique, 2019
Tainna, Norma Dunning, Douglas And McIntyre (2013) Ltd., 2021
Gather, Richard Van Camp, University of Regina Press, 2021
Moccasin Square Gardens: Short Stories, Richard Van Camp, Douglas & McIntyre, 2019
Bréviaire du matricule 082, par Maya Cousineau-Mollen, éditions HANNENORAK, 2019
Amun, collectif, éditions Stanke, Septembre 2016
Enfants du lichen, Maya Cousineau Mollen, Hannenorak, 2022
Annie Muktuk: et autres histoires, Norma Dunning, Mémoire d’encrier, 2021
READING RECOMMENDATIONS FOR CHILDREN
Un renard sur la glace/Maageesees maskwameek kaapit, Tomson Highway et Brian Deines, éd. PRISE DE PAROLE, coll. Chansons du vent du nord, 2020
Le chant des caribous/Ateek Oonagamoon, Tomson Highway et John Rombough, éd. PRISE DE PAROLE, coll. Chansons du vent du nord, 2020
Les libellules cerfs-volants/Pimithaagansa, Tomson Highway et Julie Flett, éd. PRISE DE PAROLE, coll. Chansons du vent du nord, 2020
8tlokaw8ganal : légendes, de Nicole O’Bomsawin et Sylvain Rivard, HANNENORAK, Septembre 2020
Dans l’oeil du lièvre : poèmes et images, Christine Sioui Wawanoloath, 2019
Mikumess le voyageur, Christine Sioui Wawanoloath, 2019
Tsoutare’ : sept histoires contemporaines, Christine Sioui Wawanoloath, Hannenorak, 2019
