I, Being Born a Woman and Distressed (Sonnet XLI) by Edna St. Vincent Millay

Millay was one of the most respected poets of the 20th century. She was well known for her passionate public poetry readings. What I love about her story is that she was a strong woman raised by an equally strong and independent woman. Her mother raised three daughters on her own, encouraging them to be ambitious and self-sufficient. From an early age, her mother fostered an appreciation for music and literature urging Millay to enter one of her poems into a contest in 1912, which lead her to win acclaim early on and a scholarship to Vassar College.

This Little Trailblazer by Joan Holub

In This Little Trailblazer, we meet ten incredible women who accomplished remarkable feats that changed the world--and had often never been done before.

Joan Holub is the author and illustrator of over 170 books for children, including numerous picture books and the popular Goddess Girls series of chapter books.

A trailblazer is someone who does something new that has never been done. What is something you hope to do one day that has never been done before?

Welcome & Poem by Christie Charles

“Welcome & Poem” is a TEDx talk which shows the spoken word and coastal hand drum performance, written and performed by Christie Charles in her native tongue and in English. She is a Vancouver local who was the 2018-2020 Poet Laureate and centers her work on uplifting Musqueam, Squamish, Tsleil-Waututh voices and art.

Write about ways in which you can add to your performances through mixed media. How would you put your skills and talents to use within the spoken arts as a medium?

Princess Prunella by Margaret Atwood

Perhaps the most famous Female Canadian poet of all time, Margaret Atwood has contributed greatly to the cultural fabric of Canada. She has published best selling novels among which include The Handmaids Tale and Cat's Eye, poetry anthologies and most entertainly several books for young audience written in alliterative prose. Princess Prunella and the Purple Peanuts is a entertaining exploration of sound and sense.

Can you write a passage of alliterative prose? Can you contribute to the further adventures of Princess Prunella?

How to Triumph Like a Girl By Ada Limón

Ada Limón is the author of poetry. She earned an MFA from New York University. Her work has appeared in numerous publications including the New Yorker, Harvard Review, Pleiades, and Barrow Street.

Where do we see our strength? What do we as people connect to, what gives us understanding of where our power comes from?

Let Them Not Say by Jane Hirshfield

Photo credit: Nick Rozsa

Jane Hirshfield was born in New York City on February 24, 1953. A poet, translator, essayist, and editor, she received her BA from Princeton University in its first graduating class to include women. In recent decades, Hirshfield has become increasingly known as a poet working at the intersection of poetry, the sciences, and the crisis of the biosphere.

This poem presents a call to action, a desire to ensure that we will not accept the status quo. Write about something that you hope to see change in your lifetime.

Tula["Books are door-shaped"] by Margarita Engle

Books Are Door-Shaped is a poem from the verse novel The Lightning Dreamer by Margarita Engle. The poem depicts a girl whose parents forbid her from reading, believing it isn’t a “proper” activity for girls. Despite her parents' rules, the girl imagines marvelous and magical stories of her own, and especially loves tales with female main characters.

Margarita Engle is the author of numerous novels, memoirs and picture books. Born in Los Angeles, much of her poetry is influenced by her mother’s Cuban heritage.

Imagine a book series you know with a male main character, like Harry Potter or Percy Jackson. What if the main character was a girl instead? Write a story set in that world with a female main character!

Ain't I a Woman? by Sojourner Truth

One Good Story, That One by Thomas King

In the rollicking collection 'One Good Story, That One', indigenous author Thomas King writes colloquially, in traditional oral storytelling style, peppered with his unique brand of wit and insight. King is one of Canada's finest storytellers, and author of the acclaimed 'Medicine River', 'Green Grass, Running Water', and 'Truth and Bright Water'. These sometimes magical, often whimsical tales, bring past and present into conversation and collision with plenty of help from mythic figures like the trickster Coyote.

What would happen if a character from one of your favourite myths showed up on your doorstep? What would you talk about? How might they change your life, or how might you change theirs?

Mae Among the Stars by Roda Ahmed

Mae Among the Stars is a picture book inspired by Mae Jemison, the first Black woman to travel in space. It is illustrated by Stasia Burrington, a Japanese-American illustrator, and written by Roda Ahmed, a Norwegian author born in Somalia, who can speak five languages!

Mae’s mother doesn’t judge or laugh at Mae for dreaming big—she encourages her! Who encourages you in your life? How do they support you? Who do you encourage? Are there any ways you can show them even more support?

The Powwow at the End of the World by Sherman Alexie

Sherman Alexie is also the author of "The Absolutely True Story of a Part-Time Indian," a novel based on his life growing up on the Spokane Indian Reservation in Washington State. The poem challenges what challenges and limitations the quest for Truth, Reconciliation, and Forgiveness really entails.

How would you work towards Truth and Reconciliation in Canada?

Phyllis (Jack) Webstad's story in her own words...

As we approach the first National Day for Truth and Reconcilation, take a momemt to reflect on both the history of Orange Shirt Day and the reasons why this day of remembrance is so important. Understanding Canada's past and the impacts of goverenemnt policies that still revereberate today are an important step to reconciliation.

From Injun by Jordan Abel

Nisga'a poet Jordan Abel is the winner of the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize and the Griffin Prize, and the author of several books of poetry, including Injun - a powerful critique of how indigenous people in North America have historically been represented. Abel pieced these poems together from the text of nearly 100 novels written in the western genre between 1840 and 1950, effectively reclaiming and unsettling language mired in a destructive colonial legacy, and framing new possibilities for indigeneity.

When We Are Kind by Monique Gray Smith

When We Are Kind, by Monique Gray Smith, examines the way that nature and kindness are related in our quest for building community.

Monique Grey Smith is a proud mom of twins and award-winning author of Cree, Lakota and Scottish heritage. She is well known for her storytelling and kind spirit.

Write about something you can do this week to show kindness to others.

Grace BY Joy Harjo

Grace by Joy Harjo is one of the poems from a book In Mad Love and War. In it she draws parallels between the change in seasons and the experience of segregation. Like grace, Spring enters and attempts to bandage the wounds inflicted by the winter.

How is reconciliation like a cycle?

Walking Both Sides of an Invisible Border by Alootook Ipellie

Alootook Ipellie was an Inuit poet born in Nuvuqquq on Baffin Island, in what is now known as Nunavut. Throughout his youth, Ipellie moved all around the country to live with family members and in foster homes. Despite his incredible talent, he was discouraged from pursuing artistic studies in high school. He went on to become an internationally known journalist, Inuktitut translator, graphic artist, and cartoonist. Issues of colonialism, spirituality, and the navigation of cultural identity are threaded throughout his work. Ipellie died of a heart attack in 2007.

In the face of competing expectations from parents, friends, teachers, and society as a whole, how do you hold true to your identity?

When I Was Eight by Christy Jordan-Fenton and Margaret Pokiak-Fenton

Based on her experiences at a residential school in the Canadian arctic, When I was Eight tells the story Margaret Pokiak-Fenton was named Olemaun at birth. Unlike most Inuit children, she begged to go to school, despite the horrific reputation of residential schools, because she was determined to learn how to read, no matter what. Margaret Pokiak-Fenton now lives in Fort St. John, British Columbia. Her daughter-in-law Christy Jordan-Fenton helped write her mother-in-law’s story.

During her time at the school, Olemaun draws courage from the character in the book, Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland. Write about a book, movie, song, or other piece of art that is important to you and why you love it.

You Hold Me Up by Monique Gray Smith

You Hold Me Up is a picture book by First Nations author Monique Gray Smith. The simple, beautiful words remind us of the importance of helping one another find happiness.

Monique Gray Smith is a proud mom of twins and award-winning author of Cree, Lakota and Scottish heritage. She is well known for her storytelling and kind spirit.

Write about a time when you “held someone up” and helped them find happiness. Or, write about when someone else “held you up.”

The Edward Curtis Project by Marie Clements

In the early 20th century, the photographer Edward Curtis published "The North American Indian"—a photographic catalogue of indigenous people from across the continent. It was much celebrated in the past for capturing what was deemed a "vanishing race". Métis playwright, performer and director Marie Clements contests and critiques Curtis' legacy in her compelling and challenging piece of multimedia theatre, exposing the fraught colonial attitudes and destructive perspectives propagated by his work, including the attempted silencing and erasure of a people that never vanished at all.

Photography is a powerful medium that can move us deeply. Choose a famous historical photograph and write a description of it. What makes the photo so powerful? What feelings does it invoke in you?

The Second Time by Rosanna Deerchild

This poem deals head-on with Residential Schools. Rosanna Deerchild is a Canadian Cree writer, poet and radio host. She is best known as host of the radio program Unreserved on CBC Radio One, a show that shares the music, cultures, and stories from indigenous people across Canada, from 2014 to 2020. She is the co-founder and remains a member of the Aboriginal Writers Collective established in 1999. The collective, a group of Manitoba writers, has released two collections in print, urban kool and Bone Memory, and a live spoken word CD, Red City. Rosanna has also performed live comedy and has written book reviews for the Winnipeg Free Press. Her first book, This is a Small Northern Town, is a full-length collection of poems that looks at a small northern town that is heavily divided along colour lines and holds long family secrets.

Deerchild's second book, Calling Down the Sky, is a deeply personal piece about Canada's Indigenous Residential Schools. This book is, in part, the product of a multi-year healing journey and tells the story of Deerchild's own mother and her struggles as a generational survivor of residential schools. This book also won the Lowther Memorial award in 2016. Deerchild and her mother Edna Ferguson wrote a poetry book about her residential school experience together.

Deerchild originates from South Indian Lake, Manitoba (Now called O-Pipon-Na-Piwin Cree Nation). She now lives in Winnipeg, Manitoba. In 2018 she was able to accomplish one of her dreams, which was to be an emcee in a powwow.

Write with empathy in reponse to the continuing discovery of the atrocites that was a result of the Residential Schools program.