Misplaced Pages

katherena vermette (born 29 January 1977) is a Canadian writer, who won the Governor General's Award for English-language poetry in 2013 for her collection North End Love Songs. vermette is of Métis descent and originates from Winnipeg, Manitoba. She was an MFA student in creative writing at the University of British Columbia.

In addition to writing, vermette advocates for the equality of Indigenous peoples in Canada, vocalizing her dissatisfaction with the Canadian government and media's apathy and neglect of Indigenous rights.

Early life

Born to a Métis father and Mennonite mother, vermette grew up in the North End of Winnipeg, Manitoba, a neighbourhood distinguished by a relatively high population of Indigenous people (approximately 25%), primarily First Nations and Métis people. In an interview with CBC Radio, vermette described her childhood as not being "picturesque." For vermette, growing up in the North End meant that she bore witness to injustice and prejudice from a young age; when she was 14, vermette lost her older brother, 18-year-old Donovan, who was missing for six months prior to being found dead. vermette asserts that the combination of Donovan's young age, his pre-disappearance circumstances of being at a bar with friends, and his being Cree meant that his disappearance did not get adequate coverage by the media. vermette cites the apathy shown by her community and the media surrounding her brother's disappearance as instigating her awareness of the discrimination against Indigenous peoples by settler Canadians.

Career

katherena vermette is known primarily for her poetry, although she is also a writer of prose.

North End Love Songs

vermette's first published volume of poetry, North End Love Songs functions as an ode to the place she grew up, Winnipeg's North End. In the work, she describes her neighbourhood through highlighting its relationship to nature. The collection depicts a "young girl or woman struggling with identity and place."

"Heart"

A poem commissioned by CBC Aboriginal, "Heart" similarly depicts the North End of Winnipeg from vermette's point of view. vermette aims to change the narrative from "that North End", known for being a "lost cause", to the way she knows it. vermette calls the North End the "heart of the Métis nation."

The Seven Teachings Stories

vermette's children's picture book book series The Seven Teachings Stories was published by HighWater Press in 2015. Illustrated by Irene Kuziw, the collection aims to present the Anishnaabe Teachings of the Seven Grandfathers in a way that is easily digestible for young people. The series depicts Indigenous children in a metropolitan context. The series comprises seven individual volumes: The Just Right Gift, Singing Sisters, The First Day, Kode's Quest(ion), Amik Loves School, Misaabe's Stories, and What is Truth, Betsy?.

The Break

Her debut novel The Break was published in 2016, and was shortlisted for that year's Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize and Governor General's Award for English-language fiction. In November 2017, it won the Burt Award for First Nations, Inuit and Métis Literature.

Film and digital media

In 2015, she and Erika MacPherson co-directed the 20-minute National Film Board of Canada documentary This River, about Canadian Indigenous families that have had to search for family members who have disappeared. Partly based on vermette's own experience, the film received the 2016 Coup de coeur du jury award at Montreal's Présence autochtone [fr] festival, and premiered in vermette's hometown of Winnipeg on October 5, at the Winnipeg Art Gallery. It was named Best Short Documentary at the 5th Canadian Screen Awards. vermette and NFB producer Alicia Smith also created a related Instagram work, What Brings Us Here, a companion piece to The River, which offers portraits of volunteers behind the community-run Winnipeg search teams the Bear Clan and Drag the Red.

Other work

She is a member of the Aboriginal Writers Collective of Manitoba, and edited the anthology xxx ndn: love and lust in ndn country in 2011.

Her work was published in the literary anthology Manitowapow: Aboriginal Writings from the Land of Water.

Accolades

In 2013, vermette won the Governor General's Literary Award for poetry, for her collection North End Love Songs, vermette considered not accepting the award, as a means of protesting the Canadian government’s treatment of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and the government’s policies in general. vermette decided to accept the award because the people who voted for North End Love Songs were a collection of her literary peers, making it a reflection of the Canadian poetry community, rather than the Canadian government.

In 2017, vermette won the Amazon.ca First Novel Award for The Break. Its French translation, Ligne brisée, was defended by Naomi Fontaine in the 2018 edition of Le Combat des livres, where it won the competition.

Her novel The Strangers was the winner of the 2021 Atwood Gibson Writers' Trust Fiction Prize.

Real Ones was longlisted for the 2024 Giller Prize.

Activism

vermette works with young people who are ostracized due to their circumstances and labelled "at risk". She ran a workshop on using writing to cope with growing up marginalized. vermette promotes developing young people's artistic voices through poetry.

Vermette has described her writing as motivated by an activist spirit, particularly on First Nations issues.

Works

• North End Love Songs (2012, poetry)
• The Seven Teachings Stories (2015, children's)
• The Break (2016, novel)
• Pemmican Wars (2017, graphic novel)
• river woman (2018, poetry)
• The Girl and the Wolf (2019, children's)
• The Strangers (2021, novel)
• The Circle (2023, novel)
• Real Ones (2024, novel)

Notes

1. vermette stylizes her name without capitals.

References

1. Edgar, Gordon (2022-07-09). "Festival of Words reveals next year's authors; final panel on fan/author relationship". Moose Jaw Today. Archived from the original on 2022-10-12. Retrieved 2022-10-11. Editor's note: the lowercase spelling of katherena vermette is by her preference.
2. "about". Archived from the original on October 12, 2022. Retrieved October 11, 2022.
3. Rinehart, Dianne (13 November 2013). "Eleanor Catton wins Governor General's Literary Award for The Luminaries". Toronto Star. Retrieved 16 January 2025.
4. Thacker, Sandra (13 November 2013). "Winnipeg poet wins Governor General's Award". CBC News. Retrieved 16 January 2025.
5. Small, Alan (3 October 2013). "Local poet didn't know it". Winnipeg Free Press. Retrieved 16 January 2025.
6. ^ Vermette, Katherena (2013-11-13). "Winnipeg poet Katherena Vermette wins the 2013 Governor General's Poetry Prize" (Interview). Interviewed by Carol Off.
7. "Katherena Vermette". National Film Board. Archived from the original on 28 October 2020. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
8. Zacharias, Robert (19 April 2017). "Ceremonies of belief". Canadian Mennonite. Archived from the original on 30 October 2020. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
9. "A broken family: Katherena Vermette's life changed when her brother disappeared". CBC. 9 May 2014. Archived from the original on 13 January 2017. Retrieved 27 April 2014.
10. ^ "Katherena Vermette". University of Manitoba. Archived from the original on 22 March 2016.
11. ^ "Métis poet Katherena Vermette defends Winnipeg's North End in video". CBC News. 29 April 2015. Archived from the original on 5 April 2016.
12. ^ Walschots, Natalie Zina (22 November 2013). "Katherena Vermette". The Walrus. Archived from the original on 5 June 2024.
13. "The Seven Teachings Stories". Portage & Main Press/HighWater Press. Retrieved 16 January 2025.
14. "The Seven Teachings Stories". CBC Books. Archived from the original on 17 April 2016.
15. ^ Zaidman, Harriet (12 June 2015). "The Seven Teachings Stories". CM Magazine. 21 (39). The Manitoba Library Association. ISSN 1201-9364 – via University of Manitoba.
16. Medley, Mark (21 September 2016). "Two debut novelists among this year's Writers' Trust nominees". The Globe and Mail. Archived from the original on 25 October 2019.
17. Medley, Mark (4 October 2016). "Governor-General's Literary Award short list a serious case of déjà vu". The Globe and Mail. Archived from the original on 1 June 2017.
18. Carter, Sue (24 November 2017). "Katherena Vermette wins CODE's 2017 Burt Award for First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Young Adult Literature". Quill and Quire. Retrieved 16 January 2025.
19. King, Randall (9 August 2016). "Local film about tragic Red River searches honoured at Montreal festival". Winnipeg Free Press. Archived from the original on 5 June 2024. Retrieved 11 August 2016.
20. Lewis, Philip (2 October 2015). "Redemption on the Red: this river". NFB Blog. National Film Board of Canada. Archived from the original on 17 September 2016. Retrieved 11 August 2016.
21. Cram, Stephanie (29 October 2016). "Instagram project asks what attracts volunteers to patrol Winnipeg neighbourhoods". CBC News. Archived from the original on 5 June 2024. Retrieved 8 November 2016.
22. Larkins, David (6 November 2016). "New doc explores search for missing people". Winnipeg Sun. Archived from the original on 7 November 2016. Retrieved 8 November 2016.
23. Vermette, Katherena (27 June 2011). "Manitoba writers explore Indigenous erotica in self-published book". CBC.ca. Archived from the original on 1 July 2011.
24. "Manitowapow". Portage & Main Press/HighWater Press. Retrieved 16 January 2025.
25. "Katherena Vermette Wins Governor General's Award for Poetry". UBC Creative Writing. 2013-11-13. Archived from the original on 20 December 2013. Retrieved 16 January 2025.
26. Medley, Mark (25 May 2017). "Katherena Vermette wins Amazon.ca First Novel Award". The Globe and Mail. Archived from the original on 26 May 2017.
27. "Combat des livres is back!". CBC Books. 24 April 2018. Retrieved 16 January 2025.
28. Balser, Erin (11 May 2018). "Ligne brisée, the French translation of The Break by Katherena Vermette, wins Combat des livres". CBC. Retrieved 16 January 2025.
29. Koeverden, Jane van (3 November 2021). "Katherena Vermette, Tomson Highway and Cherie Dimaline among winners at 2021 Writers' Trust Awards". CBC. Retrieved 16 January 2025.
30. "12 Canadian books make 2024 longlist for $100K Giller Prize". CBC. 4 September 2024. Retrieved 16 January 2025.

External links

• Official website for This River
• What Brings Us Here on Instagram
• Vermette, Katherena at Voilà

• 21st-century Canadian poets
• Canadian women poets
• Canadian children's writers
• Writers from Winnipeg
• Métis writers
• Mennonite poets
• Canadian Mennonites
• Living people
• Canadian women children's writers
• 21st-century Canadian women writers
• Canadian documentary film directors
• Métis filmmakers
• Film directors from Winnipeg
• 21st-century Canadian novelists
• Canadian women novelists
• Canadian women film directors
• Directors of Genie and Canadian Screen Award winners for Best Short Documentary Film
• 1977 births
• Amazon.ca First Novel Award winners
• Canadian women documentary filmmakers