First Nation Communities READ Announces the Children's and Young Adult/Adult Selected Titles for the 2021-2022 PMC Indigenous Literature Award

TORONTO, Sept. 23, 2021 /CNW/ - First Nation Communities READ 2021-2022 announces the selected titles in the Children's and Young Adult/Adult Categories.  Chosen by a jury of Indigenous librarians from across Ontario, these titles represent the very best of Indigenous literature.  The selected titles will be recognized on-line at the Virtual Word on the Street Festival in Toronto on Sunday, September 26, 2021.

Sponsored by Periodical Marketers of Canada, The PMC Indigenous Literature Award comes with a prize of $5000 for each author. Congratulations to this year's winners.

Selected Title in the Children's Category:

It's a Mitig! by Bridget George
Published by Douglas and McIntyre

Bridget George is an Anishinaabe author-illustrator, graphic designer and mother to a lovely baby boy named Noah. She was raised on the Kettle and Stony Point First Nation in Ontario and she currently lives in London, ON. This is her first book.

It's a Mitig! is a beautiful children's book that combines Anishnaabemowin and English in a creative rhyming form. Children can learn some new words like amik (beaver) and gaag (porcupine) as they travel through the forest.  Bridget wrote this special book especially for families learning the language together and reconnecting with their culture.

Selected Title in the Young Adult/Adult Category:

Orange Shirt Day September 30 by Phyllis Webstad and Joan Sorley
Published by Medicine Wheel Education

Orange Shirt Day September 30 was inspired by the story of Phyllis Webstad. When Phyllis was 6 years old, she went to Residential School for the first time wearing a brand-new shiny orange shirt. When she arrived at the school her shirt was taken away and never to be seen again.

The Orange Shirt Day movement was born out of Residential School Survivor Phyllis Webstad's personal experience at Residential School when she was just six years old. Her friend, and now Orange Shirt Society board member, Joan Sorley, encouraged Phyllis to share her story publicly in 2013. It is that story, and the tireless efforts of the Orange Shirt Society that was formed shortly thereafter, that have created the international movement we now recognize on September 30^th as Orange Shirt Day.

Periodical Marketers of Canada Indigenous Literature Award

The Periodical Marketers of Canada Indigenous Literature Award is inspired by the goals of the First Nation Communities READ program. It will provide each of the authors of the First Nation Communities READ 2021-2022 title selections with a $5,000 prize. This is the eighth year the Periodical Marketers of Canada has presented The PMC Indigenous Literature Award.

First Nation Communities READ is the Ontario First Nation Public Library Community's contribution to the popular reading movement. Launched in 2003 with support from Southern Ontario Library Service, it promotes a community-based approach to reading, FNCR:

• encourages family literacy, intergenerational storytelling, and intergenerational information sharing;
• increases awareness of the relevance and importance of First Nation, Métis, and Inuit writing, illustration, and publishing;
• promotes the publication, sharing, and understanding of First Nation, Métis, and Inuit voices and experiences.

Ontario Library Service (OLS) is mandated to deliver programs and services on behalf of the Ontario Ministry of Heritage, Sport, Tourism, and Culture Industries by:

• increasing cooperation and coordination among public library boards and other information providers to promote the provision of library service to the public;
• assisting public library boards by providing them with services and programs that reflect their needs, including consultation, training and development.

Periodical Marketers of Canada is the national association of magazine and book wholesalers serving thousands of retail newsstands across Canada. Periodical Marketers of Canada was established under federal charter in 1942 for the purpose of furthering the wholesale periodical distribution industry and contributing to the encouragement of reading in Canada.

PMC's ongoing activities include funding of a nonprofit charitable foundation, the Foundation for the Advancement of Canadian Letters, which makes contributions to individuals and agencies engaged in the encouragement of literacy and reading in Canada.  

We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund for this project.

SOURCE Ontario Library Service

For more information about First Nation Communities READ and the Ontario Library Service, contact: Nancy Cooper, First Nations Consultant, Ontario Library Service, Telephone: [phone], E-mail: [email protected]; For more information about Periodical Marketers of Canada, contact: Barry Francis, Periodical Marketers of Canada, Telephone: [phone], [email protected]