Lou-ann Neel

Author and agent Cody Caetano and poets Emily Riddle and Matthew James Weigel are among the recipients of the 2023 Indigenous Voices Awards. The winners were announced on June 21, National Indigenous Peoples Day.

The annual awards, now in their sixth year, honour the sovereignty of Indigenous creative voices and support the work of Indigenous writers. A total of $39,000 was distributed to this year’s recipients, who were chosen from finalists in each category announced last month.

Published prose in English

• Cody Caetano (Anishinaabe), Half-Bads in White Regalia (Hamish Hamilton/Penguin Random House Canada)

Published prose in French

• Carole Labarre (Innu), L’or des mélèzes (Mémoire d’encrier)

Published poetry in English

• Emily Riddle (nêhiyaw), The Big Melt (Nightwood Editions)
• Matthew James Weigel (Dene and Métis), Whitemud Walking (Coach House Books)

Published poetry in French

• Maya Cousineau Mollen (Innu), Enfants du lichen (Éditions Hannenorak)

Published work in an Indigenous language

• Solomon Awa (Inuit), Animals Illustrated: Narwhal (Inuktitut version–Inhabit Media)

Unpublished prose in English

• “Frank” by David Agecoutay (Saulteaux)

Unpublished poetry in English

• “Scattered Oblations” by Cooper Skjeie (settler/Métis)

Published graphic novels, comics, and illustrated books

• Samantha Beynon (Nisga’a) with illustrator Lucy Trimble (Nisga’a), Oolichan Moon (Harbour Publishing)

The jury for this year’s awards was comprised of writers Billy-Ray Belcourt, Lisa Bird-Wilson, Warren Cariou, David Chariandy, Margery Fee, Otoniya Juliane Okot Bitek, Madeleine Reddon, June Scudeler, Niigaanwewidam Sinclair, Matthew Tétreault, Richard Van Camp, Katherena Vermette, and Eldon Yellowhorn.

This year, to mark the first five years of the awards, the IVAs released an anthology of the work of previous finalists and winners.

The awards are administered by co-chairs Dr. Deanna Reder (Cree-Métis) and settler scholars Dr. Sophie McCall of Simon Fraser University and Dr. Marie-Eve Bradette of Université Laval.