Noopiming

Mashkawaji (they/them) lies frozen in the ice, remembering a long-ago time of hopeless connection and now finding freedom and solace in isolated suspension. They introduce us to the seven main characters: Akiwenzii, the old man who represents the narrator's will; Ninaatig, the maple tree who represents their lungs; Mindimooyenh, the old woman who represents their conscience; Sabe, the giant who represents their marrow; Adik, the caribou who represents their nervous system; Asin, the human who represents their eyes and ears; and Lucy, the human who represents their brain.

Each attempts to commune with the unnatural urban-settler world, a world of SpongeBob Band-Aids, Ziploc baggies, Fjllrven Knken backpacksand coffee mugs emblazoned with institutional logos. And each searches out the natural world, only to discover those pockets that still exist are owned, contained, counted and consumed. Cut off from nature, the characters are cut off from their natural selves.

Noopiming is Anishinaabemowin for "in the bush," and the title is a response to English Canadian settler and author Susanna Moodie's 1852 memoir Roughing It in the Bush. (From House of Anansi Press)

Noopimingwas a finalistfor the 2020 Governor General's Literary Prize for fiction.

Leanne BetasamosakeSimpsonis aMichi Saagiig Nishnaabegscholar, activist, musician, artist, author and member of Alderville First Nation. Her other books includeIslands of Decolonial Love,This Accident of Being Lost,Dancing on Our Turtle's BackandAs We Have Always Done. Simpson was chosen byThomas Kingfor the 2014RBC Taylor Emerging Writer Award.

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Why Leanne BetasamosakeSimpson wrote Noopiming

"For the narrator, the lake is a place of solace.The beginning part of the book gestures towards this trauma that so many of us as Indigenous people have experienced.

'But the book doesn't really speak directly to the trauma it's about this character who is frozen in the lake in response to that trauma. The lake becomes a warm blanket and a safe place to heal, to think, to reconnect. It's not necessarily a feeling of groundedness, but it's still a feeling of being held and of being OK.

I wanted to elevate that idea of water as some place that we can go for for healing.

"The lake is a character and also a setting in the book. I wanted to play a little bit with that. For Anishinaabe people, we think of the lake as a relative with a spirit. Oftentimes the lakes in our territory including Lake Ontario is talked about in terms of contamination and in terms of the destruction that the lake has experienced. I wanted to elevate that idea of water as some place that we can go for for healing."

Read more in her interview with The Next Chapter.

Interviews withLeanne BetasamosakeSimpson

The Next Chapter19:04Leanne Betasamosake Simpson on Noopiming: The Cure for White Ladies

Leanne Betsamosake Simpson talks about her latest novel Noopiming: The Cure for White Ladies.

Unreserved9:27Leanne Betasamosake Simpson draws story from the land

Leanne Betasamosake Simpson is a weath of stories, and ways to tell them. What she doesn't have is a lot of down time. Leanne is a professor, award-winning writer, musician, activist and a mom. Her second album (f)light just came out.

Other books by Leanne Betasamosake Simpson