Spílexm

A Weaving of Recovery, Resilience, and Resurgence

By (author) Nicola I. Campbell
Categories: Memoirs, Biography and non-fiction prose, Biography, Literature and Literary studies
Publisher: Portage & Main Press
Hardcover : 9781553799351, 336 pages, September 2021

Table of contents

Table of Contents

Prairie Letters

  • February 4, 1973
  • April 5, 1973
  • July 1, 1973
  • July 26, 1973

Her Blood Is From Sptétkw

  • sptétkw
  • fried bologna and rice
  • yellow house
  • Speed Sew
  • hamburger stew
  • lullabies
  • buckle-up shoes
  • Little People
  • c̓əlc̓ále
  • alpine mountains
  • frog whisperers
  • cousin cluster

Métis

  • Saskatchewan
  • La Ronge
  • Mooshoom
  • Back to Batoche, 1985

Nłeʔkepmxcín Lullaby

  • skíxzeʔ transforms
  • Cəceʔ and Sínciʔ
  • Rockstar Hair
  • K̓éceʔ Tea
  • University of British Columbia
  • Blackout
  • for the party
  • Tmíxw—This Land
  • Grandpa’s Corrals
  • Learning to Heal
  • i am sorry
  • it is okay.
  • the same as trees

Land Teachings

  • Métis
  • Beginnings
  • Prayer Warriors
  • gathering
  • gathering songs
  • sn’ix’wam

Coming to My Senses

  • The land, we are woven together like strands of light
  • tmíxw. temexw. temxulaxw.
  • Porcupine Song
  • snow on the mountains
  • Salish Dancer
  • The Kingfisher’s Dance
  • race day
  • quw’utsun

sorrow

  • September 16, 1998, 10:15 pm
  • deer stew
  • i dreamt of you last night
  • tracks
  • little brown
  • September 24, 1998
  • October 1, 1999, 10:15 pm
  • With Each Stroke of My Paddle

yémit and merímstn

  • Teapot Hill
  • this trail
  • unceded
  • Huckleberries Are My Weakness
  • medicine song
  • pressure canner rhythms
  • sx̣wúsm
  • Spring Chicken
  • going home
  • come inside
  • wildflowers
  • nkéxw
  • tmíxw
  • A Gathering of Stones
  • the riverbed is home

this body is a mountain, this body is the land

  • as sisters
  • Scw̓éxmx
  • May 20, 2000
  • Adanac Trail

Resurgence

  • The Trail
  • Stories Are Alive
  • Why Am I Writing This?
  • Run
  • I Believe in the Power of Prayer
  • We Are Their Prayers Come to Life
  • Reweave the Universe
  • Offering

Acknowledgements

Glossary

Index

In this exceptional memoir, bestselling author Nicola I. Campbell deftly weaves together rich poetry and vivid prose to illustrate what it means to be an intergenerational survivor of Indian Residential Schools.

Description

Through vivid short stories and rich poetry, Nicola I. Campbell deftly weaves an extraordinary memoir about what it means to be an intergenerational survivor of Indian Residential Schools. | Captivating and deeply moving, this exceptional memoir tells of one Indigenous woman’s journey to overcome adversity and colonial trauma, and find strength and resilience through creative works and traditional perspectives of healing, transformation, and resurgence.

Awards

  • Short-listed, Manuela Dias Book Design and Illustration Awards, Book Design 2022
  • Short-listed, Mary Scorer Award for Best Book by a Manitoba Publisher 2022
  • Nominated, Jim Deva Prize for Writing that Provokes 2022

Reviews

A powerful memoir.

- Prairie Books Now (PBN)

Highly Recommended!

- Debbie Reese

Among CBC Books Best Books of 2021 Canadian Nonfiction

- CBC Books

This is a terrific tale, peppered with some lovely poetry and deep philosophical convictions: raise your arms in strength and humility. The Nations of British Columbia practise this every day. We commit to strength and humility. We are humble before Star Nations and strong for one another. Nicola Campbell gets this. She is descended from two distinct Indigenous peoples: those that hold their arms and those that serve one another. Nicola braids these two cultures together and bequeaths the result to all of us and to the world. Loaded with history, rich in story, and lovely in its poetics.

- Si’Yam, Lee Maracle, author

Among Ms. Magazine's Reads for the Rest of Us list

- Ms. Magazine

Among The White Ravens' 2022 A Selection of International Children‘s and Youth Literature

- The White Raven

Spíl?xm is a putting away of pain, a letting go of sorrow, a poignant unburdening, and a return to self and community. With it, Campbell establishes herself as a visionary with the capacity to gather what is broken and weave it into a new story.

- Quill & Quire