Joanne Arnott, 2021-22 Jack and Doris Shadbolt Fellow for Indigenous Studies

The Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) is pleased to announce the scholars selected to the 2021-22 Jack and Doris Shadbolt Fellowship in the Humanities Program. The program increases the visibility of the contributions of the humanities and arts to the university community. It also engages the wider community through publicly involved scholarship and creativity.

The Department of Indigenous Studies is excited to host Joanne Arnott, a dedicated artist and editor with a strong point of view and an impressive history of championing the arts—notably the work of Indigenous artists—among the wider community. 

Arnott has been Poetry Editor of EVENT magazine since 2015, curating the poetry section as well as organizing EVENT’s annual Indigenous Voices reading, and she is the founding co-editor of the Salt Chuck City Review of the Aboriginal Writers Collective West Coast (2019) and founding member of the collective (2009). Joanne has published several books including A Night for the Lady (2013), Steepy Mountain love poetry (2004), and My Grass Cradle (1992), as well as anthologies and poetry such as Speak Out, For Example (2002) and “Watch Your Head” (2020). Joanne has received the Mayor’s Arts Award for Literary Arts (2017) in Vancouver and was shortlisted for the Pat Lowther Award of the League of Canadian Poets in 2015.

While at SFU, Joanne proposes to extend her ongoing research for the book, RETURNED: The Writings of Connie Fife, and to create a long form essay, to bring forth the works of Connie Fife for a new generation. She intends to meet with students of creative writing, Indigenous literature and Canadian literature and to create an “Indigenous writer's salon,” as well as an event around the publication of the book.