Anishinaabek Storytelling – Oral Tradition and Publishing

This lecture is about Anishinaabek storytelling – oral tradition and publishing through the experiences of Lenore Keeshig, a traditional storyteller and poet (Running on the March Wind 2015), and Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm, author (The Stone Collection 2015), recording artist (A Constellation of Bones) and publisher (Kegedonce Press). Lenore and Kateri will highlight key events, insights and innovative changes over a 65-year span as Indigenous writers in Canada struggled to have their art recognized and measured against the storytelling traditions of Indigenous peoples in North American, and not the Euro-Canadian backdrop of “English literature.” This lecture is an opportunity to break down barriers, learn what’s real and what’s imagined in Indigenous literatures and oral traditions as these two activists guide you toward reconciliation through Indigenous storytelling and literature.

Lecturers – Lenore Keeshig and Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm

Lenore Keeshig (Anungo-kwe – Star Woman) is Wolf Clan, a traditional Anishinaabe storyteller from Neyaashiinigmiing. For over 23-years, Lenore has provided land-based education highlighting the natural and cultural history of the Saugeen/Bruce Peninsula from an Anishinaabe perspective. Lenore has connected traditional Anishinaabek stories to current geologic research; taught Native Studies at George Brown College; worked as a journalist for Ontario Indian magazine; and authored four children’s books. She also advocated for the right of Indigenous authors to tell their own stories and spoke out against “cultural appropriation.” Her poetry, Running on the March Wind was published by Quattro Press.

Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm is from the Saugeen Ojibway Nation, Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation in Ontario. Kateri is a writer, poet, spoken word artist, publisher, Indigenous arts activist, former Owen Sound and North Grey Poet Laureate, and Assistant Professor, Creative Writing, Indigenous Literatures and Oral Traditions at University of Toronto, Scarborough. Her major publications include a collection of short stories, The Stone Collection, radio plays, libretti, a graphic novel, Nimkii, spoken word albums, Standing Ground and A Constellation of Bones, a chapbook, bloodriver woman, and the collections of poetry, my heart is a stray bullet and (Re)Generation: The Poetry of Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm. Kateri’s poem restitution OR Nanabush speaks to the settlers was a finalist for the 2023 CBC Poetry Prize.