We are extremely excited to announce Lindsay Nixon as the author of Metonymy’s next book. Their manuscript, tentatively titled nîtisânak, was chosen for publication by the Gay Book Lovers Unite jury.
In a writing style that Nixon describes as a form of generative refusal towards western writing practices, their manuscript works with the idea of kinship that derives from their Plains Ojibway, Métis, and Cree kinship teachings, and also how queer kin were some of their first experiences of this reciprocal relationality and care.
An initial statement from the jury puts it thus: “Nixon’s work blends contemporary Indigenous experience within Queer and 2 Spirit spaces to strike at the heart of colonization and Canadian identity. Along the way, Nixon explores masculinity, patriarchal oppression, racism in Canada, poverty, and the lingering weight of colonial history within Queer spaces. Their intersectional writing merges worldviews and deftly reveals the rotting underbelly of Canadian Queer identity as a space fraught with the legacy of a colonial past. It is vital and urgent work, expanding what it means to be both an Indigenous and a Queer writer in Canada today.”
Nixon is a nehiyaw-saulteaux-Métis curator, editor, writer, and art history grad student. They currently hold the position of Indigenous Editor at Large for Canadian Art magazine, and are the editor of mâmawi-âcimowak, an independent art, art criticism, and literature journal. Nixon’s writing has appeared in Malahat Review,
Room, GUTS, Briarpatch, and other publications. They currently reside in Tio’tia:ke/Mooniyaang—unceded Haudenosaunee and Anishinabe territories (Montreal), where they co-founded the Black Indigenous Harm Reduction Alliance and Critical Sass Press.
Metonymy’s extreme gratitude goes out again to the Gay Book Lovers Unite jury members: Kama La Mackerel, Helen Chau Bradley, jia qing wilson-yang, and Gwen Benaway.
We also want to honour the finalists: Bahar Orang, Rachel Lallouz, Ciel Sainte-Marie, and Heidi Cho.
Thanks to everyone who submitted. We’ll be revealing more details about this next book as soon as we can.
