The works of First Nations authors will be featured this month in several libraries and bookstores in Quebec during the “In June, I read indigenous” event. The growing initiative demonstrates the growing place occupied by indigenous literature, according to the campaign spokesperson.
“We are really at an extraordinary moment where indigenous literature is really at its greatest excitement, and there are plenty of people who are there to welcome it too,” says author and artist Natasha Kanapé Fontaine, in an interview.
She says she recently reflected on her 12-year literary life, as she published her first book “Don’t Walk Into My Soul With Your Shoes On” in 2012.
“I have the impression that 2012 was really the beginning when new works were published by indigenous authors in Quebec. Then over time, I was led, of course, to travel elsewhere in Canada, to meet other indigenous authors, and to realize in fact that literary production had been going on for much longer than here, in a more widespread way,” explains the writer.
More than 10 years later, she is delighted to see an initiative like “In June, I read indigenous”, which is in its fourth version, having great success. This year, 75 bookstores and 165 libraries are participating in the initiative across different regions of Quebec.
Mme Kanapé Fontaine also noted, by consulting the initiative’s notebook, which offers several literary suggestions, that she did not know all the new works written by indigenous authors, showing the growing number of First Nations publications.
“Usually, I’m very aware of what’s coming out and what’s being done. And then, I was surprised by the fact that there were so many things happening now that it was normal that I could no longer follow the flow,” she says.
The author also welcomed the fact that books by indigenous authors now take “a very large place” in Quebec bookstores.
“It seems that I would never have imagined, 12 years ago, so much enthusiasm in wanting to celebrate First Nations literature, but also, really in making sure to educate the readership even more. If there are people who still know very little about indigenous peoples, booksellers are happy to do so,” she explains.
“For a long time, there were indigenous speakers, writers who were really trying to do this educational work, but the month of June, with “In June, I read indigenous”, it allows lots of people to share this educational role too. Now it seems like we’re moving into something beyond education alone, it’s really into appreciation, into celebration. »
A place still to be made on the school benches
If initiatives like “In June, I read indigenous” and the First Nations Book Fair contribute to educating the population about indigenous literature, the place of these works has not yet been established in schools. , underlines Marie-Ève Bradette, assistant professor in the Department of Literature, Theater and Cinema at Laval University and holder of the Chair in Teaching Leadership on Indigenous Literatures in Quebec.
Even if the works of First Nations authors are increasingly present in schools at all levels of education, their teaching is not yet compulsory, explains Mme Bradette.
“In terms of literature, there is not yet an obligation to include works of indigenous literature in the program. So, there are more and more of them, because teachers are really starting to know this literature, and through their personal desire to include it in their courses,” explains the professor.
What tips does she give to teachers who would like to include indigenous literature in their teaching?
“The thing I always say is dare to do it. I often hear from people who don’t dare to do it because people don’t know how to do it,” she says.
“Teachers are often afraid of making missteps when it comes to teaching indigenous content, and indeed, we will make mistakes when teaching these texts. But we must adopt a posture of listening, of respect, of reciprocity also with the texts, and let ourselves be carried away by what the texts also convey as knowledge, as specific cultural anchors too,” she adds.
Mme Bradette also invites teachers to think about their position when teaching.
“To see from what space we express ourselves, do we read, do we share this culture, to really highlight the knowledge produced by literature and not necessarily impose our visions of the world which can be colonial, Western, when we are non-native teachers, like I am myself,” she explains.
An invitation to discover a rich literature
As for the readers, Mme Bradette invites them to discover this literature “in the plurality of its forms”.
“Readers today can enter this corpus of text in many ways, and find what they are looking for. Whether we are interested in dystopian fiction, or novels with a more identity-based anchor, there is all that in indigenous literature currently,” says the professor.
Mme Kanapé Fontaine, for his part, encourages those who have never read indigenous literature to read several books to understand the richness of this universe.
“It’s a world that we discover, and sometimes the first book we read doesn’t necessarily represent that whole world. For me, it is to invite you to discover not only one author, but several authors at the same time,” she says.
The author also emphasizes that indigenous literature focuses as much on the past and the present as on the future.
“It is an imagination that has existed in this territory for millennia, it was already there and there are several authors who are doing this work of making the voices of their ancestors resonate, the voices of their ancestral culture through their literature,” she explains.
“And there are some who don’t do that at all, who really do a lot in the present, in the contemporary, (others) who also imagine the future of the First Peoples in the next few years or in 100 years, 200 years old. That’s the power of fiction too, it’s imagining and creating new stories from what inspires us. »