Reneltta Arluk

Reneltta Arluk is a writer and actor of Inuvialuit, Gwich’in and Chipewyan-Cree descent originally from the Northwest Territories. Raised by her grandparents on the trap-line until school age, Reneltta travelled with them across the north. Being raised in a nomadic environment gave her the skills and imagination to become the writer and storyteller she is. Her first written work, TUMIT, was a one-woman show premiering under Akpik Theatre. A personal exploration of relationships and breaking cycles, TUMIT, meaning tracks in Inuktitut, took her storytelling one step further. Thoughts And Other Human Tendencies is Reneltta’s first poetry collection. The book was published by BookLand Press in English and translated to Cree. A collage of poetry exploring relations and culture from the perspective of a young Aboriginal woman finding her passions and the snippets of joy and pain that comes from the experience. Reneltta has a Bachelor of Fine Arts Acting degree from the University of Alberta. She is fortunate to continually work as an actor and playwright throughout Canada and internationally keeping her culture alive.

Books by Reneltta Arluk

Reviews

"Reneltta Arluk once acted a script I had written. She gave breath, blood, and body to a character I had imagined. Here, in these poems, she does the same for herself, for her own history. Here is the script for the drama only she could enact."
~ STEPHEN SCOBIE
GOVERNOR GENERAL'S AWARD WINNER

“Strong and vulnerable, constant and flexible as an individual and as a writer, Arluk writes poems woven with Zen-like wisdom and, above all else, an honest voice.”

~ PRAIRIE BOOKS NOW

"In Thoughts And Other Human Tendencies, Reneltta Arluk sings to us in dialects of confession and celebration. In her poems and in her brilliance, she dances strong for all of us."
~ RICHARD VAN CAMP
AUTHOR OF THE LESSER BLESSED

"Unlike many works of poetry, Thoughts and Other Human Tendencies has a clear progression through the growing pains of youth to more adult, even risqué subject matter. The poems comprise the intensely personal and in many ways autobiographical work about growing up and dealing with the joy and pain the process entails."

~ NORTHERN JOURNAL