Languages of Our Land / Langues de notre terre: Indigenous Poems and Stories from Quebec / Pomes et recits autochtones du Qubec

by Susan Ouriou (Editor), Christelle Morelli (Translation)

Languages of Our Land/Langues de notre terre is a collection of poems and stories by twelve emerging and established Indigenous writers living in Quebec and writing in French. These writers all participated in either the Aboriginal Emerging Writers Program (now the Indigenous Writing Program) at The Banff Centre, funded by the Canada Council for the Arts, or the francophone chapter of this program, Programme à l'intention d'écrivains autochtones en début de carrière, in Quebec. The writing within Languages is presented in English translation alongside the French original and interlaced with words in the writers' ancestral Indigenous languages--Innu-aimun, Wendat, Cree, and Algonquin--glossed at the end of the anthology. Editor Susan Ouriou, a Governor General's Award-winning translator and former French-English interpreter and translator for the Aboriginal Emerging Writers Program, states in her preface, "in these poems and stories, as they face the tragedies of the past, demand the righting of wrongs, and prompt change to create a better future, we see a reflection of transformation being wrought in the wider world." This anthology presents readers with an opportunity to experience the rich multiplicity of languages, intonations, and images within the stories and poems authored by those influenced by the languages they've inherited, writing in a language they've embraced.

Genres: Poetry

176 pages, Paperback

First published June 15, 2014

Reviews

[Marianne Germain · Rating 5 out of 5]

Strong and powerful. Eye-openingly sad as you realize how much hurt there is within these communities. Beautiful too as you get some insight into how Indigenous peoples view seasons, life and "silly" things that are part of "normal life" for us and make absolutely no sense to them.

[Ned Hanlon · Rating 4 out of 5]

As with any collection, this one is somewhat uneven, ranging in quality from the very beautiful to the frankly quite amateurish. The good, though, far outweighed the bad and the edition with it's dual language quality was both quite lovely and flattering to my not terribly advanced French language skills. This then, is a collection that is not just important (the voices of indigenous peoples of Canada is not something I have ever had much occasion to read before) but good.

And I can't help be left with a feeling of frustration when I see that I am the only person on goodreads who has read it. Earlier in the month I read the aggressively mediocre Miss Peregrine's School for Peculiar Children (it was suggested to me by a colleague and, as he sits across from me in the dressing room and sees me read all the time I couldn't avoid giving it a try). Not only was it bad, it made no real attempt to be good. And it has 416,954 ratings and 37,698 reviews! I understand wanting to read easy books that don't challenge. I do it all the time (I'm rereading a bunch of Sharpe novels at the moment!). But in between all the comfort food it is so important try something new. And when you go back to eating the chicken and waffles they will taste all the better for the spicy ramen (or sweet potato tagine or shrimp ceviche or whatever) you had before.

So this "review" ended up as a bit of a lecture or sermon. oops... oh well... so... back on topic... read this book! It's great!