Nishga
Nishga
by Jordan Abel
2020
This is one of those books where I just want to say, “I’m going to place it right here, and I encourage you to explore it.”
In the words of the publisher:
From Griffin Poetry Prize winner Jordan Abel comes a groundbreaking, deeply personal, and devastating autobiographical meditation that attempts to address the complicated legacies of Canada's residential school system and contemporary Indigenous existence.
It also might be the only book I’ve ever known where the back cover blurbs give you all the context—and all the gravity—you need to know—and internalize—as you approach and enter its pages.
If I were to say, “Yeah, it’s heavy, man,” it’s not to diminish the achievement in any way, it’s just to say, “It’s heavy, man.”
Encounter it and internalize it at your own pace.
It is not merely a book, it is an event.
Jordan Abel at the Vancouver Public Library, May 28, 2021.