Jónína Kirton
Jónína Kirton (b.1955) is a prairie-born Métis/Icelandic poet, author and facilitator.[1] Born in Portage la Prairie, Manitoba.[2] Kirton graduated from Simon Fraser University's Writer's Studio in 2007 and is a member of its advisory board, as well as the liaison for its Indigenous Advisory Board. She is also a member of the Room Magazine board and is also the curator of their new online poetry series, Turtle Island Responds.[3] In 2016, Kirton received the City of Vancouver Mayor's Arts Award for an Emerging Artist in the Literary Arts category. Nominated by her mentor Betsy Warland, Kirton is excited to be Warland's apprentice at the 2017 SFU Writer's Studio. Kirton also won first prize and two honourable mentions in the Royal City Literary Arts Society's Write-On Contest in 2013 and an honourable mention in 2014 in the Burnaby Writers contest. Her work has been featured in a number of anthologies and literary journals, including the Humber Literary Review, Ricepaper Magazine (Asian/Aboriginal Issue), V6A: Writing from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, Other Tongues: Mixed Race Women Speak Out, Pagan Edge, First Nations Drum, Toronto Quarterly, and Quills Canadian Poetry Magazine. Kirton's first collection of poetry, page as bone — ink as blood, was released to wide acclaim by Talonbooks in 2015.[4] Her latest book of poetry, An Honest Woman was also published Talonbooks in 2017 to positive reviews:[1]
"Jónína Kirton is courageously honest about her life experiences as a female of Indigenous and immigrant ancestry. Many poems resonate deeply, as we identify with her personal quest to figure out who she is, and the unacceptable things done to her. Her raw honesty is unsettling and uncomfortable, because it can be our truth too. Her poems depict devaluation and dehumanization, grieving, lessons learned. Her poems offer important insights as to why there are thousands of missing and murdered Indigenous women.”[5]
Her poems contend with issues of sexual and domestic violence, race, gender, relationships, and sex and sexuality, centering Indigenous women in her work.[6] In a 2017 interview with Room Magazine, Kirton shares, "It took some time to find a way to approach the vulnerability of all women and girls without diminishing the reality that Indigenous women are more at risk. My own experiences offered a way to keep Indigenous women front and centre. Why was I the target of so much sexualized violence is the question behind a number of poems. What did my mother, my father and the world teach me about love, sex and marriage? How are these two things linked? I do not have the answers yet but wanted to invite dialogue, to open a conversation about it all." [7]
Awards[edit]
City of Vancouver Mayor's Arts Award for an Emerging Artist in the Literary Arts (2016)
Burnaby Writers Contest (2014, honourable mention)
Royal City Literary Arts Society's Write-On Contest (2013, award and two honourable mentions)
Kirton is also a Finalist for the 2018 BC Book Prize: Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize.[5]
References[edit]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1955-, Kirton, Jónína, (2017). An honest woman. Vancouver, British Columbia. ISBN 9781772011449. OCLC 959038204. Search this book on
- ↑ "Jónína Kirton | Room Magazine". roommagazine.com. Retrieved 2018-08-22.
- ↑ "Jónína Kirton | Indian Summer Festival". Indian Summer Festival. Retrieved 2018-08-22.
- ↑ "The Maynard". www.themaynard.org. Retrieved 2018-08-22.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 "An Honest Woman " Books " Talonbooks". talonbooks.com. Retrieved 2018-08-22.
- ↑ "Dialogue Archive: Jónína Kirton – PULPMAG". www.pulpmag.ca. Retrieved 2018-08-22.
- ↑ "An Honest Woman: An Interview with Jónína Kirton, Room's 2017 Poetry Contest Judge | Room Magazine". roommagazine.com. Retrieved 2018-08-22.
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