We witness the challenges of urban Indigenous life but we also witness resiliency, Indigenous kinship/decolonized love & the strength that is found through sacred traditions, ceremony & unbreakable ancestral bonds. The first volume delves into many important colonial issues that affect Indigenous people today but really draws attention to the epidemic of #MMIWG2S (if unaware, of what this stands for, please research & educate yourself.) She also illustrated the cover for The Ghost Collector by Allison Mills, and her work appears in the anthology This Place: 150 Years Retold.Chi’miigwech to (Cree/Trinidadian) & (Métis) for writing/illustrating much needed works of medicine.Ĭhi’miigwech to for providing e-arcs of Surviving the City, Vol 1 & Surviving the City From the Roots Up, Vol 2.īoth graphic novels follow best friends Dez (Ininew) and Miikwan (Anishinaabe) as they navigate growing up in an urban city (Winnipeg) as Indigenous teens. She has illustrated several graphic novels, including the Surviving the City series by Tasha Spillet, and Brett Huson's animal series, which includes The Sockeye Mother, The Grizzly Mother and The Eagle Mother. Tasha Spillett-Sumner is an educator, poet and scholar of Nehiyaw and Trinidadian descent. She is also the author of the graphic novel Surviving the City , which won the $2,000 Indigenous Voices Award for works in an alternative format in 2019.ĭonovan is a Métis illustrator originally from Vancouver.

Here are the 2020 Red Maple Award finalists.

15 Canadian books to read on International Women's Day.

25 books that highlight the beauty of Indigenous literature.

Surviving the Citywon the $2,000 Indigenous Voices Award for works in an alternative format. Will Dez's community find her before it's too late? Will Miikwan be able to cope if they don't? ( From Portage & Main Press) Miikwan is devastated, and the wound of her missing mother resurfaces.

With the threat of a group home looming, Dez can't bring herself to go home and disappears. However, when Dez's grandmother becomes too sick, Dez is told she can't stay with her anymore. Together, the teens navigate the challenges of growing up Indigenous in an urban landscape - they're so close, they even completed their Berry Fast together. Tasha Spillet's graphic novel debut tells a story of kinship, resilience, cultural resurgence and the anguish of a missing loved one.

Surviving the city tasha spillett