Tag: truth and reconciliation

Jordan-Fenton, Christy (Fort St John, BC)

Memberships: Writer’s Union, Federation of BC Writers, CANSCAIP, CWILL, Connected North facilitator, ProWritingAid Ambassador/facilitator, Sefirot instructor

Some awards and nominations: 10 Best Books of 2010 Globe & Mail, 2x BC Book Prize finalist, 3x USBBY Outstanding International Books Honor List, 2 x Skipping Stones Honor Book, 4x Best Books for Kids & Teens, starred selection, Canadian Children’s Book Centre, 2x Children’s Literature Roundtables of Canada Information Book Award nomination, Best Bets OLA, Golden Oak Award, First Nation Communities Read Selection in addition to 2x shortlisted, numerous readers choice awards AB, NS, ON, AK…

Christy Jordan-Fenton is the author of four award-winning and bestselling books about her Inuvialuk mother (in-law) Margaret Olemaun Pokiak-Fenton and her time attending a high Arctic Residential School in the 1940s. Christy’s poetry, short stories, and creative nonfiction have appeared in literary magazines and anthologies since she was 17. As a professional touring storyteller, Christy facilitates creative writing and storytelling workshops for over two hundred K-12 and adult audiences a year. She practices traditional ceremonies with the Kainai. Having been raised by a residential school survivor, she has been heavily involved in Truth and Reconciliation for nearly two decades.

Storytelling Sessions (with variations for busy learners and ELL students)

K-4 (45-60 min)interactive, multimedia storytelling around WHEN I WAS EIGHT and NOT MY GIRL. These sessions are trauma-informed, age-appropriate, and strengths-based, and are focussed on empathy building as well as taking inventory of personal resilience.

4-8, 9-12+ (60 min)interactive, multimedia storytelling that explores the life of Margaret Olemaun Pokiak-Fenton, as told in FATTY LEGS and A STRANGER AT HOME. Personal photos, and additional stories compliment these trauma-informed, age-appropriate sessions which deepen the context of Olemaun’s experiences. Olemaun’s acts of bravery and resilience are highlighted in ways that deepen students’ understanding of their own strengths.

PD 1.5-6 hrs

Educators are introduced to the story of Margaret Olemaun Pokiak-Fenton, her time attending a high Arctic residential school, and her brave journey sharing her story. Through a blend of modelling and deconstruction, educators are provided the tools for engaging as allies in Truth and Reconciliation and sharing stories in respectful, trauma-informed, age-appropriate, and strengths-based ways. Teachings are rooted in Christy’s experiences being raised by a residential school survivor, her close 20-year bond with Olemaun, 16 years working with K-12+, and her dedication to traditional ceremony.

Creative Workshops and Residencies (with variations for busy learners and ELL students)

Rev Up Your Creative Engines (45-90 min)

4+ Students learn to generate infinite story prompts and then turn those prompts into compelling loglines and blurbs.

Create Worlds that Inspire Stories (60-90 min)
3+ Students are introduced to the world-building elements used in FATTY LEGS and A STRANGER AT HOME, before learning to identify these elements in other popular/familiar stories, as they examine how to design worlds that inspire stories. Working with visual prompts, the students practice these techniques, before they are given an opportunity to create their own worlds with guided prompts.

Tea_2_TikTok (full day- 2 day)

3+ Youth/Elders Storykeeper/Storyteller workshop exploring the rights, responsibilities, and protocols around sharing stories intergenerationally, as youth and elders work collaboratively to create a written, oral, or visual story project. Especially ideal for Indigenous and new-comer youth and elders.

Other Writing Workshops and Residencies

Create Characters Who Make Stories Happen, Plotting the Journey, Create Beautiful Language, and Gamification for Imagination, Author as a Career. Modules can be combined for residencies. Custom residencies available.

In-person:

300 per 1 hr session, 400 per 1.5 hr session, 1000 for four 1 hr sessions, 1200 for five 1 hr sessions (can include aft/eve 1hr PD or parent event), 1200 per day for residencies, 1500 per day for PD

+GST + 60 travel surcharge per session or 240 per day within reasonable distance of a major city (inquire for remote locations)

Discounted group rates may be shared between schools.

Author is available during all breaks for questions, signing, and story club activities.

Virtual:

250 per 1 hr session, 800 for 4 sessions, 1000 for five sessions (can include 1 hr PD session)

+ GST

Follow-up questions via email will be answered, and teachers will be given temporary access to a recorded session, if requested.

Preferences

Size: Storytelling:5-500+ Creative Workshops: under 60

Venue: classroom, gymnasium, auditorium, learning commons, etc.

Tech: sessions include audio/visual components using an iPad. Author carries a projector, adaptors/dongles, and Apple TV, and all necessary sound equipment to include a headset mic. Author is experienced with using a variety of technologies, as well as integrating her own with existing systems, or setting up independent of school tech.

Contact Christy to book a visit:

    Currie, Susan (Brampton, Ontario)

    Member: Writer’s Union of Canada, Society of Children’s Books Writers and Illustrators, CANSCAIP. All ages from 8 and up. Up to 100 or so participants.

    Rates: $300 for one session, $550 for two, $800 for three, $1000 for a full day (four sessions). Plus a travel fee of $0.50/km to and from Brampton, Ontario. Virtual visits $200 plus HST for 30-60 minutes, $150 plus HST for each subsequent session on the same day.

    Susan Currie is a Cayuga-Acadian author who has written 8 books for young people that focus on identity, friendship, music, social justice, and Indigenous history. Winner: Second Story Press’s inaugural Aboriginal Writing Award. Finalist: Silver Birch Award, CLA Book of the Year for Children, Hackmatack Award, Manitoba Young Reader’s Choice Award, First Nations Communities Read, CODE Burt Award (Honour Book), White Pine Award. Her books have been starred selections for the Canadian Children’s Book Centre Best Books for Children, selected for Top Grade, selected for JLG and Bank Street Children’s Book Committee, and included on several CBC and library lists of recommended books. Susan is an adoptee who was in the foster care system briefly as a baby, and only learned of her Indigenous heritage as an adult.

    Susan engages and energizes students with an interactive and lively presentation focusing on what it is like to be a writer, the writing process, and how books get published. In each case, she will focus on one or two books in particular, exploring their big ideas and how they came to be written. She will include a short reading and leave room for questions. Susan is extremely flexible as a presenter and is happy to customize a presentation to fit the needs of each venue. After 26 years in the classroom, she is very comfortable engaging in conversation with young people.

    Susan is also excited to do writing workshops with small groups. She is happy to work with educators to customize a topic.

    Susan Currie 2026

    Middle Grade Fiction (grades 3-8):

    The Mask that Sang (Second Story Press, 2016)
    • Indigenous history in Canada; overcoming bullies; friendship; foster care

    Young Adult Fiction (Grades 6-12):

    Iz the Apocalypse (Common Deer Press, 2023)
    • Going after your dreams; foster care; critiquing unfair systems; music; creativity; identity; friendship

    Fierce Voice (Common Deer Press, 2025)
    • Developing your own fierce voice; finding courage to do hard things; standing up to bullies; music; friendship

    Nonfiction (Grades 3-12):

    Haudenosaunee: the People and Nations (Beech Street Books, 2023)
    • Indigenous history to the present; customs and beliefs; art and music; social justice and fairness

    Indigenous Peoples: Cayuga Nation (Beech Street Books, 2024)
    • Indigenous life before and after first contact; traditions; political organization; modern Indigenous life; social justice and fairness

    Amazing Women in Canada: Autumn Peltier (Beech Street Books, 2025)
    • Water preservation; water walkers; raising your courageous voice; learning how we can all do our part

    Indigenous Governance (Beech Street Books, 2026)
    • First Nation, Metis and Inuit groups in Canada; how each group is governed; Indigenous history in Canada, Truth and Reconciliation

    Tanya Tagaq (forthcoming from Beech Street Books in December 2026)
    • Creativity; music; busting barriers; finding your own voice

    Equipment required: a microphone for larger groups or in the gym; a screen and projector for presenting slides and doing shared writing.

    Contact Susan to book a visit:

      Miskonoodinkwe Smith, Christine (Toronto, ON)

      Miskonoodinkwe Smith, Christine

      Indigenous Editor’s Association, longlisted for the First Nations Community Reads Program, ANDPVA National Signature Online Event 2022.

      Presentation Rates: 250.00 for one session, $450.00 for two, $675.00 for three, $1,000 for full day. Travel fee $.50/km if outside of Toronto. I don’t drive and would require funding for train or bus, plus Uber if available.

      Virtual Visit Fees range from $200-$250

      Christine Miskonoodinkwe-Smith- is a Saulteaux woman from Peguis First Nation and the author of “These Are the Stories: Memories of a 60s Scoop Survivor”. She is an author, editor, writer, and journalist who graduated from the University of Toronto with a specialization in Aboriginal Studies in June 2011 and went on to receive her Master’s in Education in Social Justice in June 2017. Her first non-fiction story “Choosing the Path to Healing” appeared in the 2006 anthology Growing Up Girl: An Anthology of Voices from Marginalized Spaces. She has written for the Native Canadian, Anishinabek News, Windspeaker, FNH Magazine, New Tribe Magazine, Muskrat Magazine and the Piker Press. She has also co-edited the anthology Bawaajigan with fellow Indigenous writer Nathan Niigan Noodin Adler.

      these-are-the-stories-Miskonoodinkwe-Smith-Christine.jpg

      Readings, Talks on Healing, Writing, Truth and Reconciliation

      Preferred Venues- small spaces, libraries, café’s etc

      Preferred Audience Size-10-25 people, more if comfortable

      Tech requirements- microphone, sound system

      Contact Chrissy Miskonoodinkwe Smith: