Halifax launch of nîtisânak

Venus Envy Halifax is so excited to be hosting the brilliant Lindsay Nixon to launch their debut book nîtisânak with readings from the incredi-babe Arielle Twist!
 
~~ About Lindsay Nixon & nîtisânak ~~
 
Lindsay Nixon is a Cree-Métis-Saulteaux curator, award-nominated editor, award-nominated writer, and McGill Art History PhD student. They currently hold the position of Editor-at-Large for Canadian Art. Nixon has previously edited mâmawi­-âcimowak, an independent art, art criticism, and literature journal, and their writing has appeared in Malahat Review, Room, GUTS, MICE, esse, Inuit Art Quarterly, Teen Vogue, and other publications. nîtisânak is their first book published by Metonymy Press.
 
How do you honour blood and chosen kin with equal care? A groundbreaking memoir spanning nations, prairie punk scenes, and queer love stories, Lindsay Nixon’s nîtisânak is woven around grief over the loss of their mother. It also explores despair and healing through community and family, and being torn apart by the same. Using cyclical narrative techniques and drawing on Nixon’s Cree, Saulteaux, and Métis ancestral teachings, this work offers a compelling perspective on the connections that must be broken and the ones that heal.
 

~~ About Arielle Twist & Disintegrate/Dissociate (forthcoming, March 1st, 2019) ~~
 
Arielle Twist is a writer and sex educator from George Gordon First Nation, Saskatchewan, based out of Halifax, Nova Scotia. She is a Nehiyaw, Two-Spirit, trans femme supernova writing to reclaim and harness ancestral magic and memories. Within her short career pursuing writing she has attended a residency at Banff Centre for the Arts and Creativity and has work published with Them, Canadian Art, Fiddlehead and PRISM International. She also works as a freelance editor with GUTS magazine and her debut collection of poetry Disintegrate/Dissociate is forthcoming Spring 2019 with Arsenal Pulp Press.
 
In her powerful debut collection of poetry, Arielle Twist unravels the complexities of human relationships after death and metamorphosis. In these spare yet powerful poems, she explores, with both rage and tenderness, the parameters of grief, trauma, displacement, and identity. Weaving together a past made murky by uncertainty and a present which exists in multitudes, Arielle Twist poetically navigates through what it means to be an Indigenous trans woman, discovering the possibilities of a hopeful future and a transcendent, beautiful path to regaining softness.
 

Access Notes: The main entry is up 2 steps from the sidewalk on Hollis Street, however there is the mall entrance further down the block outside on the same street that will be staffed by a volunteer to direct folks and open the door. There is an all genders wheelchair accessible washroom. To create a more accessible space for folks with scent sensitivites, we ask that guests refrain from wearing scented products please! If anyone would like sign language interpretation provided at this event, please contact Christine at christine@venusenvy.ca and she will make that happen! This event is free!