Lisa Charleyboy and Mary Beth Leatherdale win AILA Youth Literature Award for #NotYourPrincess
Toronto-based storytellers Lisa Charleyboy and Mary Beth Leatherdale have won the Best Young Adult Book at the 2018 AILA Youth Literature Awards for their anthology #NotYourPrincess, which collects poetry, essays, interviews and art by Indigenous women across North America.
The anthology, co-edited by Charleyboy, a Tsilhqot'in storyteller who hosted CBC's New Fire, and Leatherdale, was one of three winning books.
The AILA Youth Literature Awards are administered by the American Indian Library Association and are given every two years to Indigenous creators of children's literature in North America. In addition to the winners, several honour books by Indigenous writers in Canada were selected in the picture book, middle grade and young adult categories.
The 2018 AILA Best Picture Book was Shanyaak'utlaax: Salmon Boy illustrated by Tlingit artist Michaela Goade of Alaska and edited by Johnny Marks, Hans Chester, David Katzeek, Nora Dauenhauer and Richard Dauenhauer.
The 2018 AILA Best Middle School Book was Tales of the Mighty Code Talkers edited by Arigon Starr of the Kickapoo Tribe of Oklahoma.
In the young adult category, Cherie Dimaline's The Marrow Thieves was named an Honor Book alongside Jen Storm's Fire Starters and the anthology Love Beyond Body, Space, and Time edited by Hope Nicholson, which features work by Dimaline, David Alexander Robertson, Niigaan Sinclair, Nathan Adler, Richard Van Camp, Daniel Heath Justice, Gwen Benaway, Mari Kurisato and many others.
Black Bear Red Fox by Cree-Métis award-winning illustrator and writer Julie Flett was named an Honor Book in the picture book category.