Joseph Dandurand’s book of poetry is a beautiful and honest record of this Kwantlen man’s experience growing up and living on the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver. His free verse poems cover memories from his anger and abuses in childhood, to moving through and processing trauma as an adult. This book would be a good addition to English and Social Justice classes to analyze race and gender-based injustices, in addition to discussing topics such as drug and alcohol use, poverty, and gentrification. Some poems look at life as a drug-user and the darkness accompanying that, while other poems talk of the gifts of reconnecting with traditional ways. Poems can be used alone, or together as an entire collection. Topics include drug and alcohol use, poverty, anger and violence, loss and grief, depression, and religion.

96 pp., 5.5 × 8"

Joseph Dandurand (Kwantlen First Nation)

Source: Association of Book Publishers of BC - Canadian Indigenous Books for Schools (2021-2022)

JOSEPH A. DANDURAND is a member of Kwantlen First Nation located on the Fraser River east of Vancouver. He is the Heritage and Lands Officer for the Kwantlen territory and has been performing his duties for over 15 years. He has been a Playwright-in-Residence for the Museum of Civilization in Hull in 1995 and for Native Earth in Toronto in 1996. He studied Theatre and Direction at Algonquin College and University of Ottawa. His poems have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies. He has also authored a radio script which was produced by CBC Radio in 1999.
RANDY MORIN is a teacher, storyteller and English-Cree translator from the Big River First Nation, Treaty Six area. He is specializing in literary, radio and video translations from English to Cree. He is a strong supporter of maintaining and teaching of Cree language and culture and shares this knowledge in the classroom as a high school teacher in Saskatoon, SK.

Joseph Dandurand's profile page

• Short-listed, Griffin Poetry Prize

“Joseph Dandurand’s oeuvre is a marvel of witness, expressing tough, unflinching truths. The poet’s work dissects, reconfigures and takes to task settler-colonialism; his quotidian reflections read like parables, with startling economy. Whether drawing from his own spiritual immortality of cultural initiation, or from his insightful perspective as a survivor of the streets, the author conjures lived-in worlds that resonate through action over sentiment. His voice blends the streetwise with the oracular. Dandurand’s instantly relatable poems are deep, deep dives into rhythms that build a history of survival in place, wise to all that’s frail, strong, funny, and hopeful.”

Jury Citation, 2022 Latner Writers' Trust Award (Winner)

“These are powerful visionary parables of suffering, redemption and retribution...”

<i>The Toronto Star</i>

“How does the Romantic keep on if he’s a contemporary First Nations guy? Like the poet Dandurand. There’s an honest that gets bare bones scary in some of these free verse poems...but thanks to the clarity, often irony of his vision, our awkward humanity speaks through.”

Daniel David Moses

“Hands down, Joseph Dandurand is one of my all-time favourite writers...Good Lord—what a voice!”

Richard Van Camp