The Sweet Bloods of Eeyou Istchee

Translation as Co-creation with the Author "In particular, theaestheticsof “The Story of Maggie Happyjack and Simon Etapp of Waswanipi”piqued my interest and made me want totranslateit into Chinese. Maggie and Simon’s story—like others inThe Sweet Bloodscollection—does not have an exciting plot. Instead, the calm, steady unfolding of the life stories of Simon and Maggie reminds me of the slow, rhythmic sound ofspinningyarn. Its peaceful tone—contrasted by the violence of residential schoolsand the tragicdiabetic aftermath—renders the story strangely powerful."

Leilei Chen describes the process of translating The Story of Maggie and Simon into Chinese for TranscUlturAl.

Translating Jennifer's Story "I was very emotional as I translated Jennifer’s story. I felt compassion for her when she talked about her weight and how her boyfriend treated her. I felt her pain and frustration having to deal with confusion, uncertainty, stress, and feeling rejected and unloved. She had a lot on her plate. Her weight, drinking, drugs, her boyfriend leaving her and their four children and then to be told she was diabetic."

Louise Blacksmith, Cree-language translator for many Sweet Bloods stories, shares her account of translating Jennifer Gloria Lowpez's story in TranscUlturAl.

Thoughts on Translating Rose Swallow's Story "I went to residential school in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario as a teenager with Cree girls from James Bay area and northern Quebec. Maybe I know Rose Swallow. I lived a similar lifestyle that she did with her grandparents. I experienced reserve life that she describes – the skidoos, the HBC store, etc."

Patricia Ningewance Nadeau, the Ojibwe-language translator for many Sweet Bloods stories, shares her account of translating Rose Swallow's story in TranscUlturAl.

Spotlight on Translation: Interview with Leilei Chen Watch an interview featuring Leilei Chen, the Chinese-language translator of The Story of Maggie and Simon.

Writing with the James Bay Cree "Since the original publication of Sweet Bloods, we’ve embarked on a number of related projects. For instance, we recorded the book into audio format. The reader is Cree artist/musician Matthew Iserhoff of Juno-winning group CerAmony. Iserhoff lives in a Cree and Inuit community on Hudson Bay called Whapmagoostui or Kuujjuarapik, depending on whether you’re on the Cree or Inuit side of town. The community has no connecting roads, no cell reception, and limited bandwidth, so we couldn’t use the usual file-sharing technologies."

An article from the University of Alberta Faculty of Arts on the process of creating Sweet Bloods and all its different incarnations.

Ruth Dyckfehderau on scholarly writing and storytelling: guest blog post on PassItDown.com In this guest blog post for Pass It Down, Ruth writes about the evolution of Sweet Bloods, her own writing practice, and explores the differences and similarities between scholarly writing and storytelling.

James Fisher's article on Sweet Bloods in the Miramichi Reader "The author chose to write up Sweet Bloods in a short story format rather than word-for-word interviews, and this makes it highly readable. The stories are interspersed with “Stories We Heard Along The Way”, brief notes that the author has gathered and arranged under different topics. These typically have nothing to do with diabetes but serve to give the reader some insight into the difficult way of life the James Bay Cree struggle to exist under due to colonization, the James Bay hydroelectric project, and the advancement of Western technology."

Kevin Lamb writes about Sweet Bloods in "The Power of Storytelling in Healthcare" "In Northern Quebec, Canada, the James Bay Cree are addressing their diabetes epidemic in an unusual way: by telling stories. According to The Sweet Bloods of Eeyou Istchee, every family in the traditional territory of the James Bay Cree is directly affected by diabetes, which has an impact not only on their physical health but on their financial and cultural health as well."