Joséphine Bacon OC (born April 23, 1947), is an Innu poet from Pessamit in Quebec. She publishes in French and Innu-aimun. She has also worked as a translator, community researcher, documentary filmmaker, curator and as a songwriter for Chloé Sainte-Marie and Alexandre Belliard [fr].[1] She has also curated an exhibit at the Grande Bibliothèque in Montreal, Quebec and teaches at Kiuna Institution in Odanak.[2]

Joséphine Bacon
OC
Joséphine Bacon at the festival Manitou 2017, Mont-Tremblant, QC
Joséphine Bacon at the festival Manitou 2017, Mont-Tremblant, QC
Born23 April 1947
Pessamit
Occupationpoet, documentary film maker, lyricist, translator, teacher
LanguageInnu-aimun, French

Life and career

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Bacon was born in the Innu community of Pessamit in 1947 and spent the first five years of her life out on the land with her family before entering boarding school in Maliotenam.[3] In the 1960s she moved to Quebec City where she worked as a secretary, later attending secretarial school in Ottawa run by the Office of Aboriginal Affairs.[3] She moved to Montreal in 1968 and later became a translator and transcriber for anthropologists interviewing important Innu elders and knowledge keepers in Labrador and Quebec.[3]

She is the subject of Kim O'Bomsawin's 2020 documentary film Call Me Human (Je m'appelle humain).[4]

She was appointed as an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2023. She currently resides in Montreal.[5]

Works

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  • Désobéissons ! Eka pashishtetau !. Tinqueux : Éditions du Centre de créations pour l'enfance, 2019[6]
  • Uiesh |Quelque part. Montréal, Mémoire d’encrier, 2018[7]
  • A tea in the tundra = Nipishapui nete mushuat. translated by Donald Winkler. Bookland Press, 2017[8]
  • Guetter l'aurore : littératures et résistances, 1944-2014. Genouilleux: Passe du Vent, 2014[9]
  • Akin Kadipendag Trickster. Montreal: Possible Editions, 2014[10]
  • Mingan my village : poems by Innu schoolchildren. translated by Solange Messier. Fifth House Publishers, 2014[11]
  • Un thé dans la toundra = Nipishapui nete mushuat. Mémoire d'encrier, 2013[12]
  • Mingan, mon village : poèmes d'écoliers innus. co-authored with Rogé,Laure Morali, Rita Mestokosho. Éditions de la Bagnole,2012[13]
  • Nous sommes tous des sauvages. co-authored with José Acquelin. Mémoire d'encrier, 2011[14]
  • Bâtons à message| Message Sticks | Thissinuashitakana. Montreal: Mémoire d'encrier, 2010[15]
  • La créature des neiges = Kunapeu. Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec, 2008[16]

Filmography

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Bacon has directed one documentary, and has worked as a translator and narrator in documentaries by film maker Arthur Lamothe and Gilles Carle, including:

  • Tshishe Mishtikuashisht - Le petit grand européen : Johan Beetz (1997)[17]
  • Ameshkuatan - Les sorties du castor (1978)[18]

Her first documentary film, about a meeting between Innu elders and clan mothers from Kahnawake, has been lost.[3]

Awards and distinctions

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  • Prix des libraires du Québec [fr] in the category of Quebecois poetry for her work Uiesh / Quelque part, 2019[19]
  • Indigenous Voices Awards, in the category of works published in French, 2019[20]
  • Officer of l’Ordre de Montréal, 2018[21]
  • Champion of the Order of Arts and Letters of Quebec, 2018[21]
  • Prix International Ostana – écritures en langue maternelle, 2017[22]
  • Reader's Prize at the Montreal Poetry Market for her poem "Dessine-moi l’arbre", 2010[22]
  • Honorary doctorate from Laval University, 2016.[21]
  • Governor General's Award finalist for Un thé dans la toundra/Nipishapui nete mushuat, 2014[22]
  • Grand Prix du livre de Montréal finalist for Un thé dans la toundra/Nipishapui nete mushuat, 2014[23][21]

References

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  1. ^ ICI.Radio-Canada.ca, Zone Arts- (8 September 2018). "Joséphine Bacon : « la femme digne qui raconte". Radio-Canada.ca (in Canadian French). Retrieved 2019-10-24.
  2. ^ "The team". Kiuna College. Retrieved 2019-10-24.
  3. ^ a b c d ICI.Radio-Canada.ca, Zone Arts- (8 March 2019). "Joséphine Bacon, la vie en trois temps d'une femme d'exception". Radio-Canada.ca (in Canadian French). Retrieved 2019-10-24.
  4. ^ Pénélope McQuade, "Je m’appelle humain : sur les traces de Joséphine Bacon avec Kim O'Bomsawin". Ici Radio-Canada, September 17, 2020.
  5. ^ "Order of Canada appointees – December 2023". Governor General of Canada. Retrieved 2023-12-28.
  6. ^ Bacon, Joséphine; Morali, Laure (2019). Eka pashishtetau !. Tinqueux: Éditions du Centre de créations pour l'enfance. ISBN 9791093367293. OCLC 1100368512.
  7. ^ Bacon, Joséphine (2018). Uiesh = Quelque part. Montreal: Mémoire d'encrier. ISBN 9782897125417. OCLC 1060576849.
  8. ^ Bacon, Joséphine (15 January 2017). A tea in the tundra = Nipishapui nete mushuat. Translated by Winkler, Donald (English-Innu ed.). Markham, Ontario: Bookland Press. ISBN 9781772310351. OCLC 943563706.
  9. ^ Bacon, Josephine (2014). Guetter l'aurore : littératures et résistances, 1944-2014. Kneubühler, Michel; Renard, Thierry. Genouilleux: La Passe du vent. ISBN 9782845622630. OCLC 894403714.
  10. ^ Bacon, Joséphine; Gagnon, François; Cardinal, Cliff; Martin, Alexis; Voyer-Léger, Catherine; Clark, Moe; Fontaine, Natasha Kanapé; Bonnenfant, Pascale (2014). Terres de Trickster [Lands of Trickster]. Montreal. ISBN 9782981150141. OCLC 1036091767.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  11. ^ Bacon, Joséphine; Rogé; Solagne Messier (2014). Mingan my village : poems by Innu schoolchildren. Markham, Ont.: Fifth House Publishers. ISBN 9781927083796. OCLC 898494550.
  12. ^ Bacon, Joséphine (2013). Un thé dans la toundra = Nipishapui nete mushuat. Montréal: Mémoire d'encrier. ISBN 978-2897120955. OCLC 861975105.
  13. ^ Bacon, Joséphine (2012). Mingan, mon village: poèmes d'écoliers innus. Rogé, Laure Morali; Rita Mestokosho. Montréal: Éditions de la Bagnole. ISBN 9782923342764. OCLC 786427114.
  14. ^ Acquelin, José (2011). Nous sommes tous des sauvages. Bacon, Joséphine, 1947-. Montréal: Mémoire d'encrier. ISBN 9782897120177. OCLC 744480431.
  15. ^ Bacon, Joséphine (2010). Bâtons à message = Tshissinuatshitakana. Mémoire d'encrier. ISBN 9782923713090. OCLC 919880561.
  16. ^ Simard, Stéphane; Bacon, Joséphine; Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec (2008). La créature des neiges = Kunapeu. OCLC 937777838.
  17. ^ Tshishe Mishtikuashisht - Le petit grand Européen: Johan Beetz, retrieved 2019-10-24
  18. ^ Ameshkuatan - Les sorties du castor, retrieved 2019-10-24
  19. ^ ICI.Radio-Canada.ca, Zone Arts- (17 May 2019). "Prix des libraires 2019 : NoirEs sous surveillance et Uiesh – Quelque part parmi les œuvres primées". Radio-Canada.ca (in Canadian French). Retrieved 2019-10-27.
  20. ^ "Tanya Tagaq and seven other writers take home prizes at Indigenous Voices Awards | Entertainment & Showbiz from CTV News". www.ctvnews.ca. 6 June 2019. Retrieved 2019-10-27.
  21. ^ a b c d "Joséphine Bacon". Ordre de Montréal. 2018-05-11. Retrieved 2019-10-24.
  22. ^ a b c "Joséphine Bacon". Kwahiatonhk! (in French). Retrieved 2019-10-24.
  23. ^ "Joséphine Bacon: A Linguistic Legacy". my/maSCENA. 2018-06-05. Retrieved 2019-10-24.
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  • Bacon at kwahiatonhk, 2020