Avery Velez has made the 2019 CBC Nonfiction Prize longlist for Ilnu.

Avery Velez is an Ilnu from Taqamkuk and a community educator, political activist and environmentalist. Avery shares knowledge with students, peers and the public through writing and workshops on issues like colonialism, Indigenous identity, gender, sexuality, privilege and more. They constantly seek adventures and new knowledge and pour those experiences into writing

"Truth grown from the Earth."

"This story grew from an ongoing struggle between knowing that I did not grow up with Mi'kmaq culture, knowing that some may see me as a fraud, and yet also knowing that I am an Ilnu. Recognition by the government as an 'Indian' sent me on a path of (re)discovering Mi'kmaq culture and the meaning of Mi'kmaq identity, but that truth has been inside of me my whole life; I am an Ilnu and my truth was grown from the Earth."

I wonder if the sun was shining the day I was born. I wonder if raindrops are the tears of nukumis, of Grandmothers that I will never meet but always know. I wonder if Sa'qewe'ji'jk, my Ancestors, smile every time I learn lost stories from the Earth. I wonder. I wonder. I wonder.

The winner of the 2019 CBC Nonfiction Prize will receive $6,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts, have their work published on CBC Books and attend a two-week writing residency at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. Four finalists will each receive $1,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts and have their work published on CBC Books.

The shortlist will be announced on Sept. 18, 2019. The winner will be announced on Sept. 25, 2019.