Many voices : an anthology of contemporary Canadian Indian poetry edited by David Day, Marilyn Bowering

Summary: Be they Salish or Carrier, Cree or Shoshone, Algonquin or Micmac, the thirty-four Canadian Indian poets represented here all have something in common – they are forging new language and new visions. Some poems are traditional oratory, storytelling and religion; some are political decrying poverty, disease and violence; others are as experimental as concrete poetry. All are rich in challenge, for these poets have learned the limitations of white culture and returned to take what they find best from their heritage. Many Voices was the first anthology of poetry by living native Indian poets ever to have been published in Canada. A project first conceived in 1972, the editors found that although publishers were enthusiastically marketing books by white authors about dead Indians, they were quite condescending about the value of an anthology of literature by living aboriginal people. It now seems absurd, considering the obvious contribution of aboriginal art and literature to our nations cultural evolution, but it took the editors five stubborn years to find a publisher who saw the value in a book that gave a living voice to the people of Canada’s First Nations.