Billy-Ray Belcourt

Billy-Ray Belcourt is a poet, scholar, and author from the Driftpile Cree Nation.

Billy-Ray Belcourt
Education
  • Ph.D. in English from the University of Alberta
  • M.St. in Women's Studies with Distinction from Oxford University
  • B.A. (Hons.) in Comparative Literature with First Class Honours from the University of Alberta
Occupation(s)Author, Poet, Scholar
Notable workThis Wound is a World
Awards
  • Rhodes Scholarship, 2016
  • CBC's Top Ten Poetry Collection, 2017
  • P.K. Page Founder's Award for Poetry, 2017
  • Griffin Poetry Prize, 2018
  • Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation Scholar, 2018
Websitehttps://billy-raybelcourt.com

Belcourt's works encompass a variety of topics and themes, including decolonial love, grief, intimacy and queer sexuality, and the role of Indigenous women in social resistance movements. Belcourt is also the author of the poetry collection This Wound is a World which was chosen as one of CBC's top ten poetry collections of 2017 and won the 2018 Canadian Griffin Poetry Prize. Belcourt was the 2016 recipient of the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship and is currently an assistant professor in Indigenous Creative Writing at the University of British Columbia.[1][2]

Biography

Belcourt grew up in the community of Driftpile in northern Alberta.[3] He was raised by his grandparents and began writing poetry around the age of 19.[3]

As an undergraduate student, Belcourt studied Comparative Literature at the University of Alberta where he graduated with a B.A. (Hons.) with First Class Honours in 2016.[4] While at the University of Alberta, Belcourt was actively involved as "an advocate for LGBTQ and Indigenous communities," which included serving as the Aboriginal Student Council president.[5] Belcourt is a Youth Facilitator with the Native Youth Sexual Health Network (NYSHN).[6]

In 2015, Belcourt was selected as a recipient of the Rhodes Scholarship to study at Wadham College, Oxford University for the 2016-2017 school year.[7] Belcourt was the first First Nations scholar to be selected for this prestigious award and with the scholarship's announcement, he received media attention noting him as a leader, role model, and change-maker.[7]

In 2017 Belcourt graduated with distinction from Oxford University with a master's degree in Women's Studies. His master's thesis focused on "the role of Indigenous women in social resistance movements" and is titled "Decolonial Sight: Indigenous Feminist Protest and the World-to-Come."[5]

While an active writer and poet throughout his university career, Belcourt published his first book, This Wound is a World in 2017.[8] This was followed by his second book in 2019: NDN Coping Mechanisms, Notes from the Field.[9] In 2020, he released his third book, A History of My Brief Body: A Memoir, accompanied by A History of My Brief Body: Essays.[10][11]

In 2020, Belcourt completed a Ph.D. in the Department of English and Film Studies at the University of Alberta.[12][5] His research focuses on what he calls the 'Indigenous paranormal' in art, poetry and film that has been produced by Indigenous peoples in the region currently called Canada.[5] In January 2020, Belcourt joined UBC’s Creative Writing Program as Associate Professor in Indigenous Creative Writing.[13][14]

A Minor Chorus was shortlisted for the 2023 Amazon.ca First Novel Award.[15]

Writing

Books

Essays
  • "A Poltergeist Manifesto"[18]
  • "Meditations on reserve life, biosociality, and the taste of non-sovereignty." The main argument of this paper is that the feeling of indigeneity is the miserable feeling of not properly being of this world and that a disease like diabetes mellitus is a key manifestation of this sort of exhausted existence. To do this, Belcourt pursues the secondary claims that indigeneity is a zone of biological struggle and that the reserve is something of a non-place calibrated by affects the groups under the sign of misery. This is a story about the politics of interpretation, about how one takes stock of the horrors of Indigenous embodiment and how we might do it differently.[19]

Public Scholarship
  • "The Optics of the Language: How Joi T. Arcand Looks With Words"[20]
  • with Lou Cornum, Thel Seraphim, and Kay Gabriel, "Top or Bottom: How do we desire?"[21]
  • "To be Unbodied," Canadian Art (2017): n.p.[22]
  • "The body remembers when the world broke open"[23]
  • with Maura Roberts, "Making friends for the end of the world"[24]
  • "Can the Other of Native Studies Speak?"[25]
  • "Political Depression in a Time of Reconciliation"[26]
  • "The day of the TRC Final Report: On being in this world without wanting it"[27]

Creative Writing

Awards
  • Winner of the Stephan G. Stephansson Award for Poetry, NDN Coping Mechanisms (2020)
  • Indspire Award Youth - First Nation (2019)[37]
  • Winner of Robert Kroetsch City of Edmonton Book Prize (2018)[38]
  • Winner of the Indigenous Voices Award, English Poetry for This Wound Is a World (2018)[38]
  • Winner of the 2018 Griffin Poetry Prize, This Wound is a World[39]
  • CBC's best book of 2017, Canadian poetry category, This Wound is a World[40]
  • Winner, P.K. Page Founder's Award for Poetry, "Love is a Moontime Teaching", (2017)[41]
  • Rhodes Scholar (2016)

Reception

Belcourt's works have generally been welcomed with praise and appreciation.[42] CBC featured This Wound is a World at the top of their top ten poetry collections from 2017 stating that the book "is memoiristic in approach, perspicuous in style and exacting in its determination to upend genre and form."[43]

Leanne Betasamosake Simpson also praised Belcourt's book, choosing it as her favorite book of 2017. In Simpson's words, "Belcourt is a sovereign genius and This Wound is a World redefines poetics as a refusal of colonial erasure, a radical celebration of Indigenous life and our beautiful, intimate rebellion."[44] Lisa Tatonetti also praises the book, calling it a "powerful meditation on the intersections of violence, love, and the body."[45]

NDN Coping Mechanisms, Belcourt’s second book, was well received, being included in the Library Journal’s list of Best Books 2019,[46] the Writers Trust of Canada Best Books of 2019[47] and CBC Books Top Canadian Poetry Book of 2019.[48] It was shortlisted for the 2020 ReLit Award for poetry.[49]

A History of My Brief Body, his 2020 memoir, was described by Kirkus Starred Review as “An urgently needed, unyielding book of theoretical and intimate strength.”[50] The book was a shortlisted finalist for the Lambda Literary Award for Gay Memoir or Biography at the 33rd Lambda Literary Awards.[51]

References
  1. "Billy-Ray Belcourt". The University of British Columbia School of Creative Writing. Retrieved 2020-03-02.
  2. "BILLY-RAY BELCOURT". BILLY-RAY BELCOURT. Retrieved 2021-01-17.
  3. "1st-ever First Nations student among 3 Rhodes scholars named at U of A". CBC News. Nov 24, 2015. Retrieved 2018-03-12.
  4. "Lists of Graduates - Office of the Registrar". University of Alberta. Archived from the original on 27 Jul 2018. Retrieved 2018-03-12.
  5. Mcmaster, Geoff (February 22, 2018). "Rhodes Scholarship just the beginning for rising Indigenous star". Folio. Retrieved 2018-03-12.
  6. "Native Youth Sexual Health Network - Who We Are". Native Youth Sexual Health Network. Archived from the original on October 10, 2019. Retrieved 2019-03-19.
  7. "'Overcome with emotion': First Nations student named Rhodes scholar". CTVNews. 2015-11-27. Retrieved 2018-03-12.
  8. Jane, van Koeverden (Nov 14, 2017). "Billy-Ray Belcourt on writing an 'instruction manual for a queer Indigenous future' | CBC Books". CBC Books. Retrieved 2018-03-12.
  9. "NDN Coping Mechanisms | CBC Books". CBC. Jul 26, 2019. Retrieved 2021-03-24.
  10. Young, Kristen Millares. "Review | In 'A History of My Brief Body,' Billy-Ray Belcourt triumphs over oppression through lyric essays". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2021-03-24.
  11. "A History of My Brief Body | CBC Books". CBC. Feb 18, 2020. Retrieved 2021-03-24.
  12. McMaster, Geoff (November 17, 2020). "PhD caps off stellar academic and literary success for Billy-Ray Belcourt". University of Alberta Folio. Retrieved 2021-03-25.
  13. "Undergraduate Creative Writing", Teaching Creative Writing, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012, doi:10.1057/9781137284464.0013, ISBN 978-1-137-28446-4, retrieved 2021-03-24
  14. "Award-winning poet Billy-Ray Belcourt to join UBC's creative writing program". The University of British Columbia School of Creative Writing. April 11, 2019. Retrieved 2021-03-24.
  15. Drudi, Cassandra (May 4, 2023). "Billy-Ray Belcourt, Jessica Johns among 2023 Amazon Canada First Novel finalists". Quill & Quire. Archived from the original on May 20, 2023. Retrieved May 27, 2023.
  16. "2018 BOOK AWARDS: SHORTLIST ANNOUNCEMENTS – League of Canadian Poets". poets.ca. Retrieved 2018-04-30.
  17. "2018 IVA Finalists". Indigenous Voices Awards. Archived from the original on 2018-06-12. Retrieved 2018-05-20.
  18. Belcourt, Billy-Ray (Fall 2016). "A Poltergeist Manifesto". Feral Feminisms (6): 22–32. ISSN 2292-146X.
  19. Belcourt, Billy-Ray (2017). "Meditations on reserve life, biosociality, and the taste of non-sovereignty". Settler Colonial Studies. 8: 1–15. doi:10.1080/2201473X.2017.1279830. S2CID 152144729.
  20. "The Optics of the Language: How Joi T. Arcand Looks with Words". Canadian Art. Retrieved 2018-03-12.
  21. "Top or Bottom: How do we desire?". The New Inquiry. 2017-08-18. Retrieved 2018-03-12.
  22. Belcourt, Billy-Ray (Summer 2017). "TO BE UNBODIED". Canadian Art. 34 (2): 49 – via ProQuest.
  23. "The body remembers when the world broke open · Arts Everywhere". Arts Everywhere. 2017-02-08. Retrieved 2018-03-12.
  24. GUTS (2016-05-23). "Making Friends for the End of the World". GUTS. Retrieved 2018-03-12.
  25. "Can the Other of Native Studies Speak?". Decolonization. 2016-02-01. Retrieved 2018-03-12.
  26. "Political Depression in a Time of Reconciliation". ActiveHistory.ca. 2016-01-15. Retrieved 2018-03-12.
  27. "The day of the TRC Final Report: On being in this world without wanting it | rabble.ca". rabble.ca. 15 December 2015. Retrieved 2018-03-12.
  28. Belcourt, Billy-Ray (2019). "Bad Lover". The Journal. Archived from the original on February 10, 2020. Retrieved May 27, 2023.
  29. ""What is a Human Possibility?" by Billy-Ray Belcourt". 26 August 2019.
  30. Poets, Academy of American. "NDN Homopoetics by Billy-Ray Belcourt - Poems | Academy of American Poets". poets.org.
  31. "Cree Girl Explodes the Necropolis of Ottawa". 27 November 2018.
  32. "Presence: The Heartspeak of Indigenous Poets: Billy-Ray Belcourt". The Rumpus.net. November 7, 2018.
  33. Belcourt, Billy-Ray (2018-06-07). "The Terrible Beauty of the Reserve | The Walrus". Retrieved 2021-03-24.
  34. Belcourt, Billy-Ray. "What If I Never Write a Novel". Little Fiction Big Truths. Archived from the original on November 20, 2018. Retrieved May 27, 2023.
  35. "Ode to Northern Alberta". this.org. 27 October 2017. Retrieved 2018-03-12.
  36. Poems, Voicemail. ""GAY INCANTATIONS" by Billy-Ray Belcourt". voicemail poems. Retrieved 2018-03-12.
  37. "Billy-Ray Belcourt". Indspire. 25 September 2018. Retrieved 2019-03-19.
  38. "BOOKS". BILLY-RAY BELCOURT. Archived from the original on 2018-06-16. Retrieved 2019-03-18.
  39. "Billy-Ray Belcourt wins $65,000 Griffin Poetry Prize". Retrieved 2018-06-08.
  40. "The best books of 2017 | CBC Books". CBC. Retrieved 2018-04-30.
  41. "The Malahat Review". www.malahatreview.ca. Retrieved 2018-03-12.
  42. "Decolonial love: These Indigenous artists are taking back the self-love that colonialism stole | CBC Arts". CBC. Retrieved 2018-03-12.
  43. "The best Canadian poetry of 2017 | CBC Books". CBC. Retrieved 2018-03-12.
  44. "Why Leanne Betasamosake Simpson loved Billy-Ray Belcourt's This Wound is a World | CBC Books". CBC. Retrieved 2018-03-12.
  45. Tatonetti, Lisa (2018). "View of REVIEW ESSAY. Weaving the Present, Writing the Future: Benaway, Belcourt, and Whitehead's Queer Indigenous Imaginaries | Transmotion". Transmotion. 4 (2): 153–159. doi:10.22024/UniKent/03/tm.637.
  46. "Best Books 2019". Library Journal. Retrieved 2021-03-24.
  47. "What Writers Read: Best Books of the Year". What Writers Read: Best Books of the Year | Writers' Trust of Canada. Retrieved 2021-03-24.
  48. "The best books of 2019 | CBC Books". CBC. Retrieved 2021-03-24.
  49. "38 books shortlisted for 2020 ReLit Awards". CBC Books. April 27, 2021. Archived from the original on April 28, 2021. Retrieved May 27, 2023.
  50. "A HISTORY OF MY BRIEF BODY". Kirkus Reviews.
  51. "Francesca Ekwuyasi & Billy-Ray Belcourt among Canadian finalists for 2021 Lambda Literary Awards". CBC Books. March 16, 2021. Archived from the original on March 16, 2021. Retrieved May 27, 2023.
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