WATCH: Arielle Twist wins Dayne Ogilvie Prize for LGBTQ Emerging Writers
Arielle Twist, author of the poetry collection Disintegrate/Dissociate, has won the $10,000 Dayne Ogilvie Prize for LGBTQ Emerging Writers from the Writers' Trust of Canada, announced on October 21, 2020.
The jury wrote:
"Arielle Twist is a crucial writer the world needs. The intentionality, spareness, and lush lyricism of her work faces down colonial cissexist violence and wraps her family, body, and communities with deep love, justice, and honest witness. Twist's poetry moves with dignity, deliberation, deep craft, and purpose. Her work is potent, breathtaking Indiqueer brilliance, telling stories that bring the next world - the one we, and in particular Indigenous trans women, deserve - into being."
Arielle Twist is a Nehiyaw, Two Spirit, trans woman originally from George Gordon First Nation, Saskatchewan. Her work has appeared in Them, Canadian Art, and The Fiddlehead: Atlantic Canada's International Literary Journal, and her poetry, multimedia pieces, and performances have been exhibited in art galleries across the country. She currently lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Earlier this year, Disintegrate/Dissociate won the Indigenous Voices Award for Poetry and was shortlisted for the Publishing Triangle Award for Trans and Gender Variant Literature in the US.
Here is the Emerging Writers awards ceremony from the Writers' Trust of Canada (the Dayne Ogilvie Prize starts at 17:40):
Congratulations, Arielle!
