By Kathy Gallant

English River F.N. woman wins pair of Sask. Book Awards

May 3, 2018 | 8:00 AM

Tenille Campbell, a Dene and Métis woman from English River First Nation, has made a name for herself as a storyteller. Her talent was recently celebrated by the Saskatchewan Book Awards at a ceremony in Regina April 28.

The author’s debut book #Indianlovepoems won the Indigenous Peoples’ Writing Award, and the First Book Award. Campbell, who grew up on the First Nation near Patuanak and now lives in Saskatoon, is also a spoken word poet and photographer. She said the collection uses tongue-in-cheek humour to discuss indigenous sexuality, women’s sensuality, love, laughter, and joy. The author said the accolades both humbled and surprised her.

“I wasn’t expecting it … I just wanted to celebrate being in the same room with some of my favourite authors,” Campbell said. “When I won, it was pretty great.”

Her parents, daughter, and members of the English River First Nation council also attended the awards, which she said added to the honour. Campbell said much of what inspired her pursuit of creative endeavours came from her close-knit family and telling stories around the kitchen table.

“I felt there was good representation and support,” Campbell said. “My daughter basically stole the show, she was so happy and excited for me. My chief and council in my community have always supported me.”

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Campbell said some of her future projects will include more collections of poetry dealing with the body’s connection to the land, and explore ideas on gender and sensuality. She said she is always writing and, thanks to her work, she’s been able to interact and have meaningful discussions with people on social media channels, especially Instagram.

“I’m also working on a novel based on dream I had a couple years ago,” Campbell said. “We’ll see how it develops, but it was definitely a gift I have to get out of my head now.”

kathy.gallant@jpbg.ca

On Twitter @ReporterKath