Canadian Literature & Poetry
in English
First Nations
Anthologies
Read, Listen, Tell: Indigenous Stories from Turtle Island
A range of Indigenous stories from across Turtle Island (North
America): short fiction, narratives, illustrated stories, and personal essays. This collection
explores core concepts in Indigenous literary expression, such as the relations between land,
language, and community.
PR 9185.6 .I53 R43 2017
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From Oral to Written: A Celebration of Indigenous Literature in Canada, 1980–2010
A study of Native literature published in Canada between 1980 and 2010, written in multiple Aboriginal languages, in French, and in
English by the members of the Haida Nation on Haida Gwaii to the Mi’kmaq of Nova Scotia’s Cape Breton Island.
PR 9188.2 .I54 H54 2017
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Ákaitsinikssiisti: Blackfoot Stories of Old
Eight Blackfoot stories told by Lena Russell, a fluent speaker of Blackfoot from the Kainai (Blood) reserve in southern Alberta.
PM 2344 .A2 R87 2014
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Inuit Stories of Being and Rebirth: Gender, Shamanism, and the Third Sex
An in-depth, paragraph-by-paragraph analysis of stories on womb memories, birth, namesaking, and reincarnation.
Native Poetry in Canada: A Contemporary Anthology
Selection of poems from both critically-acclaimed poets and poets
whose work has not previously been published. Represents a record of Native cultural revival as it
emerged from the 1960s to 2000 as portrayed in the works of Lee Maracle, Rita Joe, Wayne Keon and
many others.
PR 9195.35 .I5 N36 2001
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Indian Act: Residential School Plays
A collection of works by Indigenous playwrights Drew Hayden Taylor, Tara Beagan, Curtis Peeteetuce, Yvette Nolan, and more. Seven
plays by contemporary Indigenous playwrights cover the broad scope of residential school experiences.
PR 9196.7 .I53 I55 2018
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Honouring the Strength of Indian Women: Plays, Stories, Poetry
This critical edition delivers a comprehensive collection of the works of Ktunaxa-Secwepemc writer and educator Vera Manuel,
daughter of prominent Indigenous leaders Marceline Paul and George Manuel. A vibrant force in the burgeoning Indigenous theatre scene, Manuel was at the forefront
of residential school writing and did groundbreaking work as a dramatherapist and healer. Long before mainstream Canada understood and discussed the impact and
devastating legacy of the residential schools, Manuel wrote about it as part of her personal and community healing.
PR 9199.3 .M288 2019
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My Home as I Remember
An edited anthology comprising poetry, short stories, and
artwork created by First Nations, Inuit and Métis women across Canada and the United States,
including contributions from New Zealand and Mexico.
Kisiskâciwan: Indigenous Voices from Where the River Flows Swiftly
Rich oral narratives from Cree, Saulteaux, Nakoda, Dakota, Dene, and Metis cultures; early writings from Cree missionaries;
speeches and letters by Treaty Chiefs; stories from elders; archival discoveries; and contemporary literary works in all genres. Historically and culturally
comprehensive, voices include Big Bear, Thunderchild, Louis Riel, Gabriel Dumont, Edward Ahenakew, Maria Campbell, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Rita Bouvier, Harold
Johnson, Gregory Scofield, Warren Cariou, Louise Halfe, and many more.
Pursued by a Bear: Talks, Monologues, and Tales
Collection of essays about First Nations Canadian playwrights and
authors, which examines how Native folklore contributes to the Canadian collective memory.
PR 9188.2 .I54 M67 2005
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Sexing the Maple: A Canadian Sourcebook
A sourcebook that raises issues of nationalism and sexuality in
Canada through a rich and diverse selection of fiction, poetry, criticism, and history. The
collection considers topics as wide-ranging as First Nations sexuality, censorship, assisted
reproduction, and religion. Literary works by Alice Munro, Jane Rule, Timothy Findley, Leonard
Cohen, Irving Layton, Lynn Crosbie, Michael Turner, and many others are included.
HQ 18 .C2 S395 2006
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Encyclopedias, Dictionaries, and Handbooks
Native North American Literature: Biographical and Critical
Information on Native Writers and Orators from the United States and
Canada from Historical Times to the Present
Coverage of both historical and contemporary Canadian First Nations
writers and poets: Beth Brant, Maria Campbell, Peter Blue Cloud, Tomson Highway, Basil H. Johnston,
E. Pauline Johnson, Peter Jones, Lee Maracle, Thomas King, Markoosie, Beatrice Culleton Monsier,
Daniel David Moses. An entry for each author and poet has biographical material, list of awards,
summaries of the major works, criticism (including reprints of scholarly and popular reviews).
PS 508 .I5 N38 1994
Reference
Five-Part Invention: A History of Literary History in Canada
Composed of five parts: English Canada, French Canada, First Nations
communities, Inuit communities, and immigrant communities.
Bibliographies
Ethnic and Native Canadian Literature: A Bibliography
An older book (published in 1990), but it remains an excellent
resource for locating poetry, fiction, and drama authored by First-Nations authors.
Z 1376 .E87 M57 1990
Reference
Indian-Inuit Authors: An Annotated Bibliography
Summary of the contributions of northern writers to 1972 who
produced texts in various topics, from literary to political: books, anthologies, articles,
conferences, reports, poetry and songs, studies, theses, and periodicals.
Z 1365 .O7
Reference
Biographies
Native North American Literature: Biographical and Critical
Information on Native Writers and Orators from the United States and Canada from Historical Times
to the Present
Part I, “Native American Oral Literatures,” examines
different aspects of oral literatures, such as oratory, the trickster, dreams and songs, and
revitalization movements. Part II, “The Historical Emergence of Native American Writing,” is federal government policy, autobiography, women’s
autobiography, and humor. Part III, “A Native American Renaissance: 1967 to the Present,” studies critical responses to Native American literature,
approaches to teaching, the literature of Canada, fiction, theatre, and the depiction of Native characters in Anglo-American literature.
PS 508 .I5 N38 1994
Reference
Digital Collections
Canadiana Online: Monographs Collection
Digitized texts of rare books published in fourteen different Indigenous languages, including Ojibway, Cree, and Mohawk, among
others.
Digital Archive Database
Métis historical documents, genealogical information, Hudson’s
Bay Company records, Church missionary records, and personal Métis accounts. The digital
collection is a result of collaboration between scholas Brenda Macdougall and Nicole St-Onge
(University of Ottawa), Michael Evans (University of British Columbia Okanagan), Chris Andersen
(University of Alberta), and Ramon Lawrence (University of British Columbia).
Frontier Life: Borderlands, Settlement & Colonial Encounters
A digital collection containing documents associated with the
existence and the consequences on the various frontiers that arose from the movements of Europeans
to North America (as well as Africa and Australasia). Primary sources represented in the collection
are memoirs, speeches, books, pamphlets, and others from the Hudson’s Bay Company Archives
Library and other repositories.
The Virtual Museum of Métis History and Culture
Chronicles traditional Métis history and culture on the Internet and contains a wealth of primary documents—oral history
interviews, photographs and various archival documents—in visual, audio and video files. The digital collection was created by the Gabriel Dumont Institute
of Native Studies and Applied Research.
American Indian Newspapers
A primary source collection of print journalism from Indigenous peoples of the United States and Canada dating from 1828 to 2016.
Items include national periodicals, local community news, student publications, and bilingual and Indigenous-language editions in Hawaiian, Cherokee and Navajo
languages and others. The bulk of titles were founded in the 1970s. Topics covered include the self-determination era and American Indian Movement, education,
local news coverage, environmentalism, land rights and cultural representation from an Indigenous perspective. Many titles are digitized in large runs over many
decades allowing for longitudinal research. Also included are a photo feature gallery and a series of essays and video interviews..
History, Literary Interpretation & Criticism
Looking at the Words of Our People: First Nations Analysis of Literature
The first collection in Canada of literary analysis on Native Literature written by First-Nations scholars. The book includes
reviews, poetry analysis, overviews of Native literatures. The contributors are Marilyn Dumont and Kimberly Blaeser, among other academics.
PR 9188.2 .I5 L66 1993
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(Ad)dressing Our Words: Aboriginal Perspectives on Aboriginal
Literatures
A critical anthology of essays by Aboriginal academics provides an
in-depth analysis of literature by Aboriginal authors. The contributors study the works of their
peers with an insightful understanding of the significance of contemporary literature within
Aboriginal cultural paradigms.
PS 8089.5 .I6 A32 2001
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The Truth About Stories: A Native Narrative
PR 9199.3 .K44177 T77 2003
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Introduction to Indigenous Literary Criticism in Canada
The essays in this volume explore issues that mark the study of Indigenous literature: appropriation of voice, stereotyping,
traditional knowledge, language, land, spirituality, orality, colonialism, post-colonialism, gender, hybridity, authenticity, resistance, and ethical scholarship.
PR 9194.5 .I5 I58 2015
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Why Indigenous Literatures Matter
Part survey of the field of indigenous literary studies, part cultural history, and part literary polemic, this book asserts the
vital significance of literary expression to the political, creative, and intellectual efforts of indigenous peoples today.
PS 153 .I52 J878 2018
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Learn, Teach, Challenge: Approaching Indigenous Literatures
Organized into five subject areas: Position, the necessity of
considering where you come from and who you are; Imagining Beyond Images and Myths, a history and
critique of circulating images of Indigenousness; Debating Indigenous Literary Approaches;
Contemporary Concerns, a consideration of relevant issues; and finally Classroom Considerations,
pedagogical concerns particular to the field. Each section is introduced by an essay that orients
the reader and provides ideological context.
Activating the Heart Storytelling, Knowledge Sharing, and Relationship
An exploration of storytelling as a tool for knowledge production and sharing to build new connections between people and their
histories, environments, and cultural geographies. The collection pays particular attention to the significance of storytelling in Indigenous knowledge frameworks
and extends into other ways of knowing in works where scholars have embraced narrative and story as a part of their research approach.
P 302.7 .A28 2018
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Divided Highways: Road Narrative and Nationhood in Canada
Establishes the existence of a road trip genre in the literatures of Canada, examining works by a variety of Anglophone,
Québécois and Indigenous writers, including Gilles Archambault, Jeannette Armstrong, Jill Frayne, Tomson Highway, Linda Hogan, Scott Gardiner, Claude Jasmin,
Robert Kroetsch, Lee Maracle, Jacques Poulin, Aritha van Herk and Paul Villeneuve.
PR 9185.5 .T73 M33 2019
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Performing Turtle Island: Indigenous Theatre on the World Stage
This book analyzes theatre as a tool for community engagement, education, and resistance, and examines how communities in turn
influence the construction of Indigenous identities through theatre.
PN 2301 .P47 2019
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The Oxford Handbook of Canadian Literature
A comprehensive, authoritative guide to many different genres,
topics, and aspects of Canadian literary history, including the influence of literature on the
Canadian national identity, authorship, postcolonialism, short story, drama, poetry, Indigenous
literatures, women’s writing, children’s literature, gay and lesbian literature,
creative work from the Confederation period, regional fiction, and minority writers.
PR 9180.2 .O95 2016
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Canadian Literature
Critical study of Canadian literature, placing internationally
successful anglophone Canadian authors in the context of their national literary history. While the
focus of the book is on twentieth-century and contemporary writing, it also charts the historical
development of Canadian literature and discusses important eighteenth- and nineteenth-century
authors. The chapters focus on four central topics in Canadian culture: ethnicity, race,
colonization; wildernesses, cities, regions; desire; and histories and stories. Authors chosen for
close analysis include Margaret Atwood, Michael Ondaatje, Alice Munro, Leonard Cohen, Thomas King
and Carol Shields.
PR 9189.6 .H36 2007
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The Cambridge Companion to Canadian Literature
A comprehensive introduction to major writers, genres and topics in
Canadian literature: fiction, drama, and poetry, Aboriginal writing, autobiography, literary
criticism, writing by women, urban writing, nature-writing, exploration and travel-writing, and
short fiction.
The Cambridge History of Canadian Literature
A complete English-language history of Canadian writing in English
and French from its beginnings, with an emphasis on literary, poetic, and dramatic works published
since the 1960s. Analyzes the emergence of multicultural and Indigenous writing, popular
literature, nature-writing, life-writing, and the interaction of anglophone and francophone
cultures throughout Canadian history.
Literary Land Claims: The “Indian Land Question” from
Pontiac’s War to Attawapiskat
Examines John Richardson’s novels about Pontiacs War and the
War of 1812 that document the breaking of British promises to Indigenous nations.
Canadian Literature at the Crossroads of Language and Culture:
Selected Essays by Barbara Godard, 1987–2005
Godard is recognized as one of the most influential scholars in the
area of Canadian studies. This anthology of her collected essays includes “The Politics of
Representation: Some Native Canadian Women Writers,” first published in 1990.
PR 9193.5 .G63 2008
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The Homing Place: Indigenous and Settler Literary Legacies of the
Atlantic
Bryant explores how colonized and Indigenous environments occupy the
same given geographical coordinates even while existing in distinct epistemological worlds through
the analysis of a wide range of northeastern texts, including Puritan captivity narratives,
Wabanaki wampum belts, and contemporary Innu poetry.
PR 9184.3 .B79 2017
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Cultural Identities in Canadian Literature
A bilingual collection of essays on the themes of cultural
identities and immigrant writing in Canada. The emphasis is upon diversity as essays range in
subject matter from Margaret Atwood, Margaret Laurence, and Marie-Claire Blais to Danny Laferrière,
Ukranian-Canadian plays, “Franglo-théâtre,” contemporary Acadian and Africadian poetry
and the Ontario Protestant novel.
PR 9185.2 .C85 1998
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Echoing Silence: Essays on Arctic Narrative
In this 1995 symposium on Arctic narrative, storytellers,
politicians and academics assembled at the University of Ottawa to
celebrate the Arctic’s folk customs, its landscape and its literary traditions. The essays
present northern legends, accounts of the Franklin Expeditions, the oral narrative traditions and
the interaction between the southern and northern Canadian cultures.
Northern Experience and the Myths of Canadian Culture
An investigation of the idea of the “North” as an
element of Canada’s national identity and the development of this theme in Canadian culture
and Canadian literature.
Far off Metal River: Inuit Lands, Settler Stories, and the Making of
the Contemporary Arctic
Explores how Samuel Hearne’s account of the Bloody Falls
massacre has shaped the ongoing colonization and economic exploitation of the North.
Listening to Old Woman Speak: Natives and Alter Natives in Canadian
Literature
Examines the historical context of the portrayal of Native
characters in Canadian literature, including the prose of Anna Jameson and Susanna Moodie and the
poetry of Duncan Campbell Scott.
Cultural Grammars of Nation, Diaspora, and Indigeneity in Canada
Considers how the terms of critical debate in literary and cultural
studies in Canada have shifted with respect to matters of race,
nation, and difference.
PR 9188.2 .M55 C84 2011
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Tropes and Territories: Short Fiction, Postcolonial Readings, Canadian
Writing in Context
Analyzes the influence of postcolonial criticism on the reading,
writing, and status of short fiction: Métis narratives, Maori myth, and stories by Alice Munro,
Salman Rushdie, Alistair MacLeod, Mavis Gallant, Emily Carr, and Thomas King.
PR 9084 .T76 2007
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Unhomely States: Theorizing English-Canadian Postcolonialism
An excellent critical introduction to the place of postcolonial
theory in Canadian literary criticism. Includes essays by George
Grant, Northrop Frye, Margaret Atwood, Dennis Lee, Robert Kroetsch, Linda Hutcheon, Diana Brydon,
Thomas King, Terry Goldie, Arun Mukherjee, Smaro Kamboureli, Stephen Slemon, and Roy Miki.
PR 9189.6 .U5 2004
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Taking Back Our Spirits: Indigenous Literature, Public Policy and
Healing
Examines contemporary autobiography, fiction, and drama to reveal
how these texts respond to and critique public policy, and how literature functions as medicine to
help cure the suffering inflicted by the colonial legacy.
PR 9194.5 .I5 E65 2009
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Aboriginal Drama and Theatre
Examines trickster drama, performance culture, specific plays, and
historical heritage of Native theatre and drama in Canada.
PR 9194.5 .I5 A36 2005
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When the Other is Me: Native Resistance Discourse 1850–1990
An interdisciplinary study of the Native literary response to racist
writing in the Canadian historical and literary record from 1850 to 1990.
Troubling Tricksters: Revisioning Critical Conversations
A collection of theoretical essays, articles, interviews, fiction,
personal essays, poems, and stories that provide a revisioning of trickster criticism.
Tekahionwake: E. Pauline Johnson’s Writings on Native North America
A diverse range of Johnson’s writings on what was then called “the Indian question” and on the question of her own
complex Indigenous identity. Six thematic sections gather Johnson’s poetry, fiction, and non-fiction, and a rich selection of historical appendices provide
context for her public life and her work as a feminist and activist for Indigenous people.
PR 9199.3 .J6 A6 2016
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Paddling Her Own Canoe The Times and Texts of E. Pauline Johnson
A major scholarly study that examines Johnson's diverse roles as a First Nations champion, New Woman, serious writer and performer, and Canadian nationalist.
PR 9199.3 .J6 Z85 2000
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In the Belly of a Laughing God: Humour and Irony in Native Women’s Poetry
Examines how eight contemporary Native women poets in Canada and the
United States employ humour and irony to address the intricacies of race, gender, and nationality.
PR 9190.9 .I53 A64 2011
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Here is Queer: Nationalisms, Sexualities and the Literatures of Canada
Consider how the interconnected concepts of nationalism and
sexuality have helped shape the production and reception of Canadian and First Nations literatures.
PR 9185.5 .H6 D52 1999
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Magic Weapons: Aboriginal Writers Remaking Community After Residential
School
A major survey of Indigenous writings on the residential school
system: Rita Joe (Mi’kmaq) and Anthony Apakark Thrasher (Inuit), Basil Johnston (Ojibway),
and Tomson Highway (Cree).
E 96.2 .M34 2007
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Indigenous Poetics in Canada
Explores a wider sense of poetics, including Indigenous oralities,
languages, and understandings of place. It examines four elements of Indigenous poetics: the
poetics of memory, performance, place and space, and the poetics of medicine.
Avant Canada: Poets, Prophets, Revolutionaries
A collection of original essays and supporting creative works on an array of Canadian literary avant-garde movements from the past
fifty years. An overview of the past, present, and future of Canadian avant-garde writing. The essays explore the intersection of Canadian avant-gardisms and
Indigenous decolonization. Finally, the authors also discuss controversial topics such as the relationship between Canadian and Indigenous literature, cultural
appropriation, gender, and the Conceptual Writing movement.
PR 9193.7 .A93 2019
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The Decolonizing Poetics of Indigenous Literatures
Neuhaus uncovers residues of ancestral languages found in indigenous
uses of English. She shows how these remainders ground a reading strategy that enables us to
approach indigenous texts as literature, with its own discursive and rhetorical traditions that
underpin its cultural and historical contexts.
Shaping a World Already Made: Landscape and Poetry of the Canadian Prairies
Tracie, a cultural geographer, examines the poetry of Louise Halfe and Marilyn Drumont, among other poets, to explore the symbolism
and meaning of the Prairie landscape.
Journals
ARIEL: A Review of International English Literature
Scholarly criticism of literatures in English, with particular focus
on the influence of colonization on literature. Peer-reviewed.
The Canadian Journal of Native Studies
Articles, bibliographies, book reviews, and discussions related to
all aspects of First Nations, including literature.
Peer-reviewed.
updated & expanded by: Agatha Barc, 22 September 2020
originally compiled by: Irene Dutton, Alison Girling