User:MacMick

Beth Cuthand Beth Cuthand was born 1949 in LaRonge, Saskatchewan, beside the Sandy Lake Reserve. Her dad was an Anglican minister at the time who shared with Beth the stories he collect as he travelled. Her mom was a teacher of Irish-Scots descent who taught Beth creativity. When Beth was ten, the family moved south to Cardston, Alberta, and found a very racist world. Here Beth developed the desire to communicate, so she could promote understanding. After high school in Cardston, Beth studied at the University of Regina. From 1975 to 1983 she worked for CBC radio, and Native newspapers in BC and SK. In 1986 she received her BA in sociology from the University of Saskatchewan, and in 1992 an MFA from the University of Arizona. Since then, she has taught English, creative writing and Native literature. She now lives in Merritt, BC where she teaches English at the Nicola Valley Institute of Technology (as of 2001). Beth Cuthand’s first poetry book came out in 1987, and Voices in the Waterfall in 1989. Her work has “sustaining and energizing humour.” (122) Many poems catch oral voices, like “Post Oka Kinda Woman,” and many use Cree symbols to “convey visions, prophesy and ceremony.” (122)

These notes are from Jeannette C. Armstrong and Lally Grauer, ed., Native Poetry in Canada, Peterborough: Broadview Press, 2001 (pp 121 - 122)