8th Annual Kemosa Scholarship Winners Announced

Winners of the 8th Annual Kemosa Scholarship for First Nations, Métis and Inuit Mothers Who Write

The Writers’ Guild of Alberta and Nhung Tran-Davies are pleased to announce the winners of the 8th Annual Kemosa Scholarship for First Nations, Métis and Inuit Mothers Who Write.

First established in 2017 by Dr. Nhung Tran-Davies in partnership with Tlicho Dene author Richard Van Camp, the Kemosa Scholarship offers an opportunity for First Nations, Métis and Inuit Mothers to obtain resources to help them complete the work on their writing – whether that be a novel, a collection of stories, poems, or whatever form their writing might take.

This year, there were many amazing entries for the Kemosa Scholarship, and it was a challenge for the judges to choose the winners from among them. After much thought and careful deliberation, here are this year’s recipients:

  • First Place ($3000):  Lareina Abbott
  • Second Place ($2000): Alycia Two Bears
  • Third Place($1000): Samantha Gibbon

A very special thank-you to the judges, Richard Van Camp, Jacqueline Guest, Jeananne K Kirwin, and Nicole Harrish, for their time, energy, and careful consideration. 

For more information or media inquiries, please contact the Writers’ Guild of Alberta at [email protected].

 

Meet the Winners!

Lareina Abbott- First Place

Lareina Abbott

Lareina Abbott pens Métis themed speculative fiction and creative non-fiction. Her stories have a tie to the spiritual or natural world, and to ancestry. She received the Writers Guild of Alberta 2023 Howard O’Hagan award for short story, and is an alumni of the Audible Indigenous Writers Circle. She is a member of the Métis Nation of Alberta and her family names are Huppé, Desjarlais, and Cyr. She originates from a cattle ranch in northern British Columbia but currently lives and writes in Calgary/Mokinstsis on MNA District 5 and Treaty 7 territory.

 

She is on Instagram and Bluesky at @boneblackstories.

 

Alycia Two Bears

Alycia Two Bears is a member of Mistawasis Nêhiyawak First Nation. A proud mixed blooded iskwew, they call Mohkinstsis home. She is a Two Spirit Story teller, single mama to five amazing humans and Midwife in the making who coaxes babies down from the stars with poetry, medicines and songs. Her second collection of poetry, The Feast, is coming this spring 2025 from Wild Skies Press. Her first collection, “Two Spirit: Stories, Sex and the Ceremony Behind it all” was self published and available online.
 
“Alycia’s poems are urgent, important and satiating. Her work takes on patriarchy, ceremony, grief, motherhood and feasting in ways that are raw and expansive. The images that she weaves with her words speak of the lands she comes from and drip with texture that you can almost taste. This collection is critical and an ode to Two Spirit resurgence and all the complexities present of carrying generations of resilience in your bones and bodies.” 
—Seán Carson Kinsella.

Samantha Gibbon

Samantha Erron Gibbon (she/her) is an otipemisiwak and nehiyaw iskwew from Treaty 6 territory in Alberta, Canada. She and her daughter are descendants of Peayasis Band and belong to the Otipemisiwak Métis Government. She is an award winning artist and illustrator, and between busy days working in healthcare as a resident Ob/Gyn physician and parenting, she writes poetry and short fiction.

Our Gratitude

Co-Sponsors:

Donors:

    • Trudy Grienauer

    • Jacqueline Guest

    • Jennifer Delisle

    • Carol Holmes

    • Audrey Whitson
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