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A conversation with poet Joséphine Bacon, with bilingual readings in French and Innu
March 22, 2016 @ 5:00 pm - 7:00 pm
A conversation with Joséphine Bacon, with bilingual readings in French and Innu
Tuesday, March 22, 5:00-7:00 pm
Special Collections
4th Floor, Golda Meir Library
UW-Milwaukee, 2311 E. Hartford Ave.
The event and reception are FREE and OPEN to the public
Ms. Bacon will present in English & French, and some English translation will also be offered.
Joséphine Bacon is an Innu poet originally from Pessamit, Quebec, who now makes her home in Montreal. Ms. Bacon’s work reflects the ways in which her Innu language has changed as her First Nation society moved from a nomadic past to the forced sedentary lifestyle of the reserves.
A treasure-trove of stories, Joséphine Bacon speaks movingly about her elders and reads from her works in Innu and French. She has worked as a translator-interpreter by the side of her elders, the keepers of traditional knowledge. Joséphine Bacon often says she is not a poet, but that she speaks a poetic language that resonates with the elders’ voices that she has lived with all her life.
The author and co-author of several works in both French and Innu, Joséphine Bacon won the Prix des lecteurs du Marché de la poésie de Montréal (2010) for her poem “Dessine-moi l’arbre,” and she was a finalist for the Prix du Gouverneur général and the Grand Prix du livre de Montréal. She has participated in readings and spoken-word performances on almost every continent, has led many writing workshops and conferences, and has taught and translated Innu-aimun for over 40 years.
Josephine Bacon’s tour in the Midwest is made possible by Daisy Quan, Foreign Policy and Diplomacy Service at the Canadian Consulate, Kerith Iverson, Public Affairs attaché, Quebec Government Office in Chicago, Alliance Française de Milwaukee, UWM Department of French, Italian, and Comparative Literature, and UWM Year of the Humanities.
Co-sponsored by Milwaukee Native American Literary Cooperative, American Indian Studies, Electa Quinney Institute for American Indian Education, Center for 21st Century Studies, and Special Collections, UWM Libraries