The Indigenous Voices Awards are a
Canadian literary award program, created in 2017 to honour
indigenous literatures in Canada.
["New literary prize for Indigenous writers to offer $25K in awards"]
CBC News, October 19, 2017. It is administered by the Indigenous Literary Studies Association,
a non-profit organization that promotes the production, study and teaching of Indigenous literatures.
The awards grew out of a 2017 controversy, when a group of Canadian writers were criticized for campaigning on
Twitter in favour of a prize supporting
cultural appropriation
Cultural appropriation is the inappropriate or unacknowledged adoption of an element or elements of one culture or identity by members of another culture or identity. This can be controversial when members of a dominant culture appropriate from ...
. In response, Toronto lawyer Robin Parker launched a
crowdfunding
Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and alternative finance. In 2015, over was raised worldwide by crow ...
campaign to create a new prize for
First Nations,
Métis
The Métis ( ; Canadian ) are Indigenous peoples who inhabit Canada's three Prairie Provinces, as well as parts of British Columbia, the Northwest Territories, and the Northern United States. They have a shared history and culture which derives ...
and
Inuit writers in Canada. The crowdfunding campaign was set with a goal of $10,000, but ultimately attracted over $140,000 in donations.
[
The awards honour both published and unpublished work by Indigenous writers in Indigenous languages, English and French.]
CBC Books, May 31, 2018. On
National Indigenous Peoples Day, June 21, 2022, IVA announced that an anthology of selected works by the finalists will be published by Penguin Random House Canada in 2023 to celebrate the 5th anniversary of the award.
Recipients
See also
*
Burt Award for First Nations, Inuit and Métis Literature
The Burt Award for First Nations, Inuit and Métis Literature is a Canadian literary award, presented annually to works judged to be the best works of young adult literature published by indigenous writers in Canada. The award is sponsored by the C ...
*
PMC Indigenous Literature Awards
*
McNally Robinson Aboriginal Book of the Year Award
References
Canadian fiction awards
First Nations literature
2017 establishments in Canada
Awards established in 2017
Inuit literature
Literary awards honoring indigenous people
Canadian poetry awards
External links
*{{Official website, https://indigenousvoicesawards.org/home-page