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Enlarge Cover
list price: $18.95
edition:Paperback
category: Poetry
published: Oct 2018
ISBN:9781772012132
publisher:
Talonbooks
Description
Seven Sacred Truths presents a powerful exploration of an Indigenous woman’s healing journey. Seeing the world through “brown” eyes, poet Wanda John-Kehewin makes new meaning of the past, present, and future through a consideration of Love, Wisdom, Truth, Honesty, Respect, Humility, and Courage. By sharing her views on these Seven Sacred Truths and what they meant to her growing up, John-Kehewin instigates a therapeutic process of restoration and transformation. Her Seven Sacred Truths uncovers new meaning in the written word – meaning that can be shared with others who have lived trauma or who want insight into it. John-Kehewin strives to create a safe space and provide the opportunity to experience another perspective; she invites readers to embark on their own healing journeys. The closer you are to the truth, she writes, the freer you become.
Wanda John-Kehewin uses writing as a therapeutic medium to understand and respond to the near-decimation of First Nations cultures and traditions. Recipient of the World Poetry Foundation’s Empowered Poet Award for her first collection, In the Dog House.
Contributor Notes
Wanda John-Kehewin has studied criminology, sociology, Aboriginal studies, and creative writing with Simon Fraser University’s TWS writing program. She uses writing as a therapeutic medium to understand and respond to the near-decimation of First Nations culture, language, and tradition. She will be attending the University of British Columbia part-time, taking creative writing courses in 2018 and studied at UBC in creative writing in 2016. She has been a part of World Poetry and its radio show as a co-host on Co-op Radio and performed at numerous readings throughout British Columbia’s Lower Mainland. Her work is raw, and her honesty is a reflection of the amount of suffering the ancestors of the past have endured. She gives her mother, who was never heard, a voice. She credits her children as the vehicle to healing and wanting to understand colonization and its effects. Her first book of poetry, In the Dog House, was published by Talonbooks in 2013.
Awards
- Short-listed, Indigenous Voices Award
Editorial Reviews
“In terms of grappling with the who am I and what are my concerns, questions emerging authors tend to answer in their first books, Seven Sacred Truths collects the author’s learning and places it right on the page, beautifully, confidently, and with the type of stare-you-in-the-face storytelling that can only be accomplished with the wisdom of self-awareness. These texts do not dress up or pretend. What is more sacred than a woman knowing herself, accepting herself and moving forward into a place of self-determination?” —Elee Kraljii Gardiner, PRISM International
"The abandonment by her family seems unforgiveable to those who have the privilege of a parent’s care yet John-Kehewin finds a way of looking that invites us to see how established discrimination is ingrained in our society"—Mary Barnes, Prairie Fire magazine
“Part of what makes this collection interesting is in the mix of styles and approaches, from lyric fragments to prayer to prose sections, each moving with different purpose and direction but all with similar goals, that of attempting to acknowledge, respond and finally thrive, despite a personal and cultural legacy of brutality.”
—Rob Mclennan
“Seven Sacred Truths collects the author’s learning and places it right on the page, beautifully, confidently, and with the type of stare-you-in-the-face storytelling that can only be accomplished with the wisdom of self-awareness.” —Elee Kraljii Gardiner, PRISM International
