Overview
Translated from French by Howard Scott
Assi Manifesto is a celebration of the Innu land in the tradition of Joséphine Bacon. This telluric power is reminiscent of Paul Chamberland's Terre Québec. Natasha Kanapé's challenge is to name her land, but also to reconcile opposites.
In this collection of poetry, the author engages with the environment, colonialism, anxiety, anger, healing, solitude, and love. "Assi" in Innu means Land. Assi Manifesto is primarily a land of women. If the manifesto is a public space, Assi is a forum of life, a song for those who open their spirit to its mystery.
Reviews
"Fontaine's profound, complex poetics combined with her cultural perspective make Assi Manifesto a timely and timeless collection. " --World Literature Today
"The poems are a call to the historical pre-invasion calm of North America, for respect as equals against the default culture that partitions her people into the past. The battles in the poems are mythical, symbolic, and large in this manifesto for national and personal pride. " --The Montreal Review of Books
"[The author] already has an important place amongst those who designate this world the borders of the intimate and the giant. " --La Presse
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