Vera Wabegijig
Vera Wabegijig is an Aboriginal poet and artist from the Mississauga First Nation and Wikwemikong Unceded Reserve. Her nomadic learning style has brought her across this land to foster growth as a contemporary storyteller at the En’owkin Centre, University of Victoria and the Banff Centre for the Arts. She has performed her poetry at many literary events in Ottawa, Vancouver, Victoria, and Penticton. In addition to writing, Vera is also an emerging media artist. Her visual poems and other works have been screened at ImageNations Film and Video Festival, ImagineNative Film Festival, and Dawson City Film Festival. Vera has been honoured to receive the Louis Armstrong Literary Award and many grants and scholarships from the Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council, BC Arts Council, National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation, City of Ottawa, and First Peoples Cultural Foundation. She currently lives in Nepean, Ontario.
Books by Vera Wabegijig
About the Book
Wild Rice Dreams is a collection of Aboriginal poetry that delves into the human experience from an Anishinaabe perspective with spotlight on urban Aboriginal life. The poems explore spiritual transformations and perception of the ever-present knowledge of being hunted by not so distant cruel past. Vera Wabegijig speaks to the power of ordinary Aboriginal people in Canada, ignites our imagination, and connects us to our past, current, and future feelings. She demonstrates deep understanding of native vitality and appreciation of different cultural legacies in vigorous relationship with each other. The poems in Wild Rice Dreams capture sensible reflections, discover emotional challenges, and ultimately share subtle insight and compassion. The book explores how complicated relationships between people, dreams, and memories play an integral role in the complex life of being Anishinaabe.
Reviews
"Drawing on cultural traditions and knowledge, Wabegijig explores the Anishinabe experience of life in the city and the complicated way that dreams and memories work."
~ PRAIRIE BOOKS NOW
"Vera Wabegijig’s first book, Wild Rice Dreams, comes after 20 years of writing poetry. The elders helped her to sense the importance of storytelling and to start living that through writing and sharing stories in poetic form."
~ ANISHINABEK NEWS
“Vera doesn’t shy away from the harsh realities of life. Whether it is sexual abuse, addiction, youth suicide, loneliness, colonialism, or environmental degradation, it appears on the page—and through Vera’s vivid word crafting we explore, sense and feel.”
~ MUSKRAT MAGAZINE
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