kā-āciwīkicik / The Move

SHORTLIST, 2022 GOVERNOR GENERAL’S LITERARY AWARDS – YOUNG PEOPLE’S LITERATURE ILLUSTRATED

A magical children’s picture book, written in Cree and English, depicting the transformation of a barren landscape into a rich natural world where an elderly couple can spend their remaining days.

Rooted in the historical displacement and relocation of members of the Chemawawin First Nation from their ancestral homeland, The Move is a bilingual story of two Cree Elders adjusting to life in their new environment. The story presents two contrasting landscapes of the old community—the homeland of the Chemawawin People—and the new community of Easterville, which at first appears barren and lifeless. Gradually, the couple begins to incorporate their old customs and traditions into their current surroundings. Family members begin to visit, and eventually nature begins to bloom all around them. Through traditional Cree storytelling techniques and vivid imagery, the new landscape springs to life and becomes a true community, filled with life and happiness.

Alyssa Koski is an illustrator and member of the Kainai Nation. She holds a BA in Visual Communications from the Alberta College of Art and Design. Koski is the recipient of the Janet Mitchell Award and the Harley Brown Artistic Endowment and the winner of the 2017 Applied Arts Magazine design award.

Doris George is a Cree educator. She is the principal of Chemawawin Schools in Easterville, Manitoba, where she also taught Cree language for four years. She holds a BA and BEd from University College of the North and a Community Linguist Certificate (CLC) from the University of Alberta. She has a passion for her language, and credits her grandparents and parents with speaking Cree with her when she was growing up. She is married with three sons and six grandchildren.

Don K. Philpot is an educator specializing in Cree language structures and use, language and literacy education, and children’s literature. He is a member of the reading faculty at Shippensburg University and holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in Indigenous Studies, Teacher Education, and Literacy education from the University of Manitoba and University of British Columbia. His current research focuses on Indigenous landscapes and worldviews in contemporary adolescent novels by Indigenous writers.