Arnott, Joanne 1960- (Joanne S. Arnott-Zenthoefer, Joanne S. Arnott)

PERSONAL:

Married name Joanne Arnott-Zenthoefer; born December 16, 1960, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada; married; children: five sons, one daughter. Ethnicity: "Métis." Education: Attended University of Windsor, 1980-82, and University of British Columbia, 1992.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Richmond, British Columbia, Canada. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Writer.

MEMBER:

Writers' Union of Canada, Aunties Collective.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Gerald Lampert Award, Canadian League of Poets, 1992, for Wiles of Girlhood.

WRITINGS:

Wiles of Girlhood (poetry), Press Gang Publishers (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada), 1991.

My Grass Cradle (poetry), Press Gang Publishers (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada), 1992.

Ma MacDonald (juvenile), illustrated by Mary Anne Barkhouse, Women's Press (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 1993.

Breasting the Waves: On Writing and Healing (essays), Press Gang Publishers (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada), 1995.

Steepy Mountain: Love Poetry, Kegedonce Press (Cape Croker Reserve, Ontario, Canada), 2004.

Mother Time: Poems New & Selected, Ronsdale Press (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada), 2007.

Work represented in anthologies, including By, For & About: Feminist Cultural Politics, edited by Wendy Waring, Women's Press (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 1994; Uncommon Wealth: An Anthology of Poetry in English, edited by Neil Besner, Deborah Schnitzer, and Alden Turner, Oxford University Press, (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 1997; Spider Women: A Tapestry of Creativity and Healing, edited by Joan Turner and Carol Rose, J. Gordon Shillingford (Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada), 1999; Native Poetry in Canada: A Contemporary Anthology, edited by Jeannette C. Armstrong and Lally Grauer, Broadview Press (Peterborough, Ontario, Canada), 2001; Pens of Many Colours, 3rd edition, edited by Eva C. Karpinski, Thomson Nelson Learning (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 2002; Without Reservation: Indigenous Erotica, edited by Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm, Kegedonce Press (Wiarton, Ontario, Canada), 2003; The Heart of the Community: The Best of the Carnegie Newsletter, edited by Paul R. Taylor, New Star Books (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada), 2003; and My Wedding Dress: True-Life Tales of Love, Laughter, Tears and Tulle, edited by Susie Whelehan and Anne Laurel Carter, Vintage Canada (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 2007. Also contributor to periodicals.

SIDELIGHTS:

Joanne Arnott told CA: "I grew up in a lively household, arts-positive and poor/working class, and have managed to recreate a similar household where I'm boss lady and servant of all. My writings have played a key role in coming to understand myself and world, and [they] continue to lead me out of isolation and into rapport with all kinds of people. ‘Disposable’ people might find my work affirming. ‘Charitable’ people might find my work disturbing, and worth the challenge. My interest is in telling the inside story, disregarding social distances, and generating intimacy through these leaps of trust. I maintain [an active] interest in Métis (indigenous and mixed-race writers and artists in Canada and elsewhere), home birth, maternal health and sexuality, arts in healing and community building, and poverty issues."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Canadian Book Review Annual, 1992, review of Wiles of Girlhood; 1993, review of Ma MacDonald; 1995, review of Breasting the Waves: On Writing and Healing.

Atlantis, Volume 29, issue 2, Shandra Spears, "ReConstructing the Colonizer: Self-Representation by First Nations Artists."

Canadian Literature, autumn-winter, 1997, review of Wiles of Girlhood; summer, 1995, review of My Grass Cradle.

Herizons, spring, 1997, review of Breasting the Waves, p. 36.

Prairie Fire, 1994, interview and review of Breasting the Waves.