With heart, mind, and spirit, white settler-nehiyaw poet Selina Boan brings her unique experiences to the forefront in her thoughtful and powerful work Undoing Hours. Boan is an emerging poet who has gained awards and recognition across Canada, most recently making the 2020 CBC Poetry Prize shortlist. Undoing Hours explores the complexities of youth, mental health, family, Cree language learning, and (re)connection to culture. For language learners this collection is a must-have, as Boan infuses her poems with nêhiyawêwin treasures. Boan shares what family and Indigenous identity mean to her when she travels to reconnect with an absentee nohtâwiy (father) and when she meets her estranged brother for the first time saying, “we are strangers with the same cheeks.”

96 pp., 5.5 × 8", b&w photographs

Selina Boan (white settler–nehiyaw)

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

Selina Boan is a white settler-nehiyaw writer living on the traditional, unceded territories of thex?m??k??y??m (Musqueam), s?l?ilw?ta?? (Tsleil-waututh), and s?wx_wú7mesh (Squamish) peoples. Her debut poetry collection, Undoing Hours, is forthcoming with Nightwood Editions in Spring 2021. Her work has been published widely, including The Best Canadian Poetry 2018 and 2020. She has received several honours, including the 2017 National Magazine Award for Poetry, and was a finalist for the 2020 CBC poetry award. She is currently a poetry editor for Rahila’s Ghost Press and is a member of The Growing Room Collective.

Selina Boan's profile page

• Short-listed, Indigenous Voices Award
• Long-listed, Pat Lowther Memorial Award
• Long-listed, Gerald Lampert Memorial Award
• Winner, Pat Lowther Memorial Award
• Short-listed, Gerald Lampert Memorial Award
• Winner, Indigenous Voices Award