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A collaboration between Monster House Publishing and the Wabanaki Visual Arts Program aims to share more stories by Indigenous artists with Atlantic communities.
The Wabanaki Visual Arts Program is a two-year diploma program offered at the New Brunswick College of Craft and Design. It focuses on the traditional crafts and practices of the Mi’kmaq, Wolastoqiyik, Passamaquoddy, Penobscot and Abenaki peoples, including quillwork, beading, wood carving, wampum making and basketry.
As part of their final project, graduates each produce a picture book based on Indigenous oral history and their own lived experiences — all of which will now be published by Monster House.
Mitzy’s First Time Picking Sweetgrass by Emily Johnson, a member of the Listuguj Mi’kmaq band, will be the first title to launch. Set to hit shelves on Dec. 1, it follows the story of Mitzy the cat who goes sweetgrass picking with her mother, highlighting an important Indigenous teaching passed down from generation to generation.
This isn’t the first time a Wabanaki Visual Arts Program alumnus has published a picture book with Monster House Publishing. In 2018, Monster House released Mahtoquehs’ Journey, a story of a rabbit who has to find his own way to the gathering to perform his special dance, written and illustrated by graduate Braelyn Cyr, member of the Listuguj Mi’kmaq band.
Following Cyr’s success, Judie Acquin, studio coordinator of the program, asked Paul Farlow-McAllister of Monster House to speak to the cohort about the publishing process, which led to this partnership.
“With the support and encouragement from Paul and his team, I know that books that are thoughtfully written and beautifully illustrated by Indigenous artists will make their way into the hands of children and our communities,” said Acquin in a press statement.
The second title of this collaboration is Lisa-Maude Aubin-Berbe’s Askomawsu, the story of how basket weaving came to the land.
Monster House is a children’s book publishing company based in Fredericton. Some of its titles include I See Colour: The Amazing Life of Bolu Davis by Barine Ngbor, illustrated by Erica Metta, Tanner and the Magic Tongue by Evan Nadeau, illustrated by Meg Clarke, and What’s in Flora’s Shoebox? by Sarah Jane, illustrated by Venus Angelica.
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