Carol Rose GoldenEagle named 9th poet laureate of Saskatchewan
Jane van Koeverden | | Posted: July 13, 2021 2:10 PM | Last Updated: July 13, 2021
Carol Rose GoldenEagle has been named Saskatchewan's ninth poet laureate for her "long history of interacting with students, from K to 12, who are eager to learn more about reconciliation, how to honour our past ... and how to move forward."
The writer and journalist has written novels like Bearskin Diary, Bone Black and The Narrows of Fear, which recently won the Indigenous Peoples' Writing Award at the Saskatchewan Book Awards.
GoldenEagle made her poetry debut with the collection Hiraeth in 2019. The title comes from a Celtic word that means to search for a place to belong that never existed. The poetry is about the necessary work of First Nations and Métis women in taking care of one another as a result of the Sixties Scoop.
"What we write may be the very medicine that someone else needs. I encourage those who embrace the written word to not censor their thoughts and feelings, and experiences," said GoldenEagle in a press release announcing her appointment.
"It is a purging of truth and wisdom, often in the form of poetry which can be ingested and shared by those who read and thereby experience and remember."
GoldenEagle will take over the position from Bruce Rice, the author of six poetry books, including The Vivian Poems and The Trouble with Beauty.
Saskatchewan also selected Warsha Mushtaq, a first year student at the University of Saskatchewan, as the province's new youth poet laureate.
Mushtaq is a climate activist and former editor-in-chief of The Muse.
"Through my writing, I hope to journey deeply into the natural world — where questions of what it means to be human, to be animal, to be plant or fungi, to be celestial body, to be other and to be art are tangibly in the air," said Mushtaq in a press release.
Mushtaq is Saskatchewan's third youth poet laureate. The selection committee said she "believes great poetry and science is visionary, capable of opening our eyes to the complexity and beauty of the world."