John McDonald holding a copy of Kitotam. (Submitted photo/John McDonald)

By Nigel Maxwell

Literacy

Paddockwood man finalist for provincial book awards

Apr 23, 2022 | 8:00 AM

John Brady McDonald says he is a man of words but admits to being speechless after learning his first book made the shortlist for not one, but two Saskatchewan book awards.

Kitotam, which translates into English as “He speaks to it”, was nominated in two categories: the Sask Arts Poetry Award and the Saskatoon Public Library’s Indigenous Peoples’ Publishing Award. McDonald told paNOW he was very surprised by the news.

“I knew I was nominated but I didn’t expect I’d have a chance to have my book shortlisted like that,” he said.

Kitotam, published in the spring of last year, is a collection of free-verse poetry. Written in two parts, the poems chronicle John’s life and experiences as an urban Indigenous youth growing up in Prince Albert’s during the 1980’s. The second half of the book is a look into the inspirations and events, that shaped John’s career as an internationally-known spoken word artist, beat poet, monologist and performance artist.

Citing cases where people have told him how the book helped remind them of their own childhoods, McDonald said the overall response has been amazing.

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“I’ve had people come up and say I read this book and I started to cry,” he said.

Explaining how his goal with the book was just to get his words out, McDonald said the initial reception from publishers was less than positive with almost 20 years worth of constant, solid rejection; and who, in McDonald’s words, did not want to touch the book with a 10 foot pole.

“There were times where I sent the book out and I’d get a letter back saying they didn’t want to publish the book and the book wasn’t even unwrapped,” he said.

John McDonald at Prince Albert’s John M. Cuelenaere library. (Submitted photo/John McDonald)

Since the publishing of Kitotam, McDonald has gone on to publish two other books, and has a non-fiction book coming out later this year.

“Once the snow is gone, I pick up my pen and paper and I start writing again so there’s always going be poems; there’s alway gonna be stories to tell,” he said.

The 29th annual Saskatchewan Book awards ceremony will be held virtually June 25 at 7 p.m.

Also among the nominees is Kaleb Dahlgren (formerly of the Humboldt Broncos), for his book Crossroads in the Non-Fiction category.

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nigel.maxwell@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @nigelmaxwell