First Nation Communities READ Announces Winners of the PMC Indigenous Literature Award

September 24, 2020

First Nation Communities READ today announced the winners of the 2020-2021 PMC Indigenous Literature Award:

• Children’s Category: The Bear’s Medicine by Clayton Gauthier, Published by Theytus Books
• Young Adult/Adult Category: Chasing Painted Horses by Drew Hayden Taylor, Published by Cormorant Books

The winning titles will be recognized at the Virtual Word on the Street Festival in Toronto on Sunday, September 27, 2020.

Launched in 2003 by the First Nations public library community in Ontario, First Nations Communities Read is an annual reading program to:

• encourage family literacy, intergenerational storytelling, and intergenerational information sharing;
• increase awareness of the relevance and importance of First Nation, Métis, and Inuit writing, illustration, and publishing;
• promote the publication, sharing, and understanding of First Nation, Métis, and Inuit voices and experiences.

First Nation Communities READ Announces the Children’s and Young Adult/Adult Selected Titles for the 2020-2021 PMC Indigenous Literature Award

TORONTO, Sept. 24, 2020 – First Nation Communities READ 2020-2021 announces the selected titles in the Children’s and Young Adult/Adult Categories. Chosen by a jury of Indigenous librarians from across Ontario, these titles represent the very best of Indigenous literature. The selected titles will be recognized on-line at the Virtual Word on the Street Festival in Toronto on Sunday, September 27, 2020

Sponsored by Periodical Marketers of Canada, The PMC Indigenous Literature Award comes with a prize of $3000 for each author. This year’s winners are:

Selected Title in the Children’s Category:

The Bear’s Medicine by Clayton Gauthier
Published by Theytus Books

Clayton Gauthier is Cree/Dakelh from British Columbia. He is a visual artist as well as an author. The art he produces revolves around the teachings from Elders, the Spirit within, and Mother Earth. The Bear’s Medicine is the second book he has written and illustrated.

The Bear’s Medicine is the charming story of how a mother bear feeds her cubs off the land. In doing so she teaches her cubs about gratitude for the world around them. It’s the story of a mother’s love for her children as she teaches them how to survive.

Selected Title in the Young Adult/Adult Category:

Chasing Painted Horses by Drew Hayden Taylor
Published by Cormorant Books

Drew Hayden Taylor is an award-winning playwright, novelist, essayist and filmmaker. Born, raised and living on the Curve Lake First Nation, he has done everything from performing stand-up comedy at the Kennedy Centre in Washington D.C. to acting as Artistic Director of Canada’s premiere Native theatre company, Native Earth Performing arts. Currently, he is working as cohost/coproducer/ and host on the second season of a travel and interest show on APTN called GOING NATIVE and developing the fourth installment of his ME series of non-fiction books.

In Chasing Painted Horses, Ralph Thomas is shocked when he comes across some graffiti in an alley on a cold winter morning and recognizes the art. He is transported back to his childhood on the Otter Lake reserve and the drawing of a horse by another child that won a drawing competition. A homeless Indigenous man sees his reaction and calls out to him. Over the course of their conversation he remembers the questions that arose from the drawing of that horse and what it meant for him, his sister, his best friend and for the girl who created the drawing.

Periodical Marketers of Canada Indigenous Literature Award

The Periodical Marketers of Canada Indigenous Literature Award is inspired by the goals of the First Nation Communities READ program. It will provide each of the authors of the First Nation Communities READ 2020-2021 title selections with a $3,000 prize. This is the seventh year the Periodical Marketers of Canada has presented The PMC Indigenous Literature Award.

First Nation Communities READ is the Ontario First Nation Public Library Community’s contribution to the popular reading movement. Launched in 2003 with support from Southern Ontario Library Service, it promotes a community-based approach to reading, FNCR:

• encourages family literacy, intergenerational storytelling, and intergenerational information sharing;
• increases awareness of the relevance and importance of First Nation, Métis, and Inuit writing, illustration, and publishing;
• promotes the publication, sharing, and understanding of First Nation, Métis, and Inuit voices and experiences.

Southern Ontario Library Service (SOLS) is mandated to deliver programs and services on behalf of the Ontario Ministry of Heritage, Sport, Tourism, and Culture Industries by:

• increasing cooperation and coordination among public library boards and other information providers to promote the provision of library service to the public;
• assisting public library boards by providing them with services and programs that reflect their needs, including consultation, training and development.

Periodical Marketers of Canada is the national association of magazine and book wholesalers serving thousands of retail newsstands across Canada. Periodical Marketers of Canada was established under federal charter in 1942 for the purpose of furthering the wholesale periodical distribution industry and contributing to the encouragement of reading in Canada.

PMC’s ongoing activities include funding of a nonprofit charitable foundation, the Foundation for the Advancement of Canadian Letters, which makes contributions to individuals and agencies engaged in the encouragement of literacy and reading in Canada.

We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund for this project.

(Via Southern Ontario Library Service)