Indigenous writers’ awards grow out of debate

TORONTO — A literary prize born out of a media controversy will bestow $25,000 in awards to burgeoning Indigenous writers.

Organizers of the Indigenous Voices Awards are inviting submissions from Oct. 31, with a closing date of Jan. 31. The winners will be announced in Regina on May 31.

Jurors will include Indigenous writers Kateri AkiwenzieDamm, Virginia Pesemapeo Bordeleau, Rachel Qitsualik-Tinsley, Gregory Scofield and Richard Van Camp, as well as poet Rodney Saint-Eloi and CBC Radio presenter Shelagh Rogers.

The awards are the result of a crowdfunding campaign that started this summer after an editorial in Write magazine argued in favour of “cultural appropriation.”

That was followed by a social media debate in which several media executives tweeted that they would help to fund an “appropriation prize.”

As public outrage grew, Toronto lawyer Robin Parker launched a campaign to raise $10,000 for a prize to support emerging Indigenous voices.

She collected more than $116,000, which grew to more than $141,000 with further donations.

The prize is being administered by the Indigenous Literary Studies Association, a scholarly organization dedicated to supporting Indigenous literature and its study.

The association said the prize is meant to “support Indigenous literary expression in its diversity and complexity, honouring the sovereignty of Indigenous creative voices while rejecting cultural appropriation.”

The remaining funds will be dedicated toward supporting what organizers expect will be an annual event, they said.

More details will be announced on Saturday at the Vancouver Writers Festival by Rogers, along with Cherokee writer Daniel Heath Justice and Vancouver-based writer Silvia Moreno-Garcia, who was also involved in the crowdfunding campaign.

Parker will attend a second launch event at the International Festival of Authors in Toronto on Oct. 26.