Penticton hosting panel discussion of Okanagan Women’s Voices: Syilx and Settler Writing Relations

Photo: Contributed

Writers and editors from the recent publication of Okanagan Women’s Voices: Syilx and Settler Writing and Relations, will be speaking at a panel discussion in Penticton this week for an in-depth exploration of Indigenous and non-Indigenous women’s voices from the past and the present.

The University of British Columbia Okanagan and Theytus Books, in cooperation with the En’owkin Centre and the Penticton Museum & Archives, will be hosting the event on Thursday in recognition of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

Published by Theytus Books, the book focuses on the 1870’s – 1960’s, and is edited by Jeannette Armstrong, Lally Grauer and Janet McArthur, who will also sit on the panel.

Armstrong is Syilx Okanagan, a fluent speaker and teacher of the Nsyilxen Okanagan Language and Traditional Knowledge Keeper of the Okanagan Nation. She is currently Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Okanagan Philosophy at UBC Okanagan.

Grauer has long been involved in Canadian and Indigenous literature in Canada. As an Associate Professor at the University Of British Columbia Okanagan, she taught both Canadian and Indigenous literature.

In 2001, Grauer worked together with Armstrong to publish Native Poetry in Canada and has had numerous collaborations with Indigenous authors.

McArthur is an Associate Professor Emeritus in the faculty of Creative and Critical Studies at UBC (Okanagan Campus). She created and taught the first courses at UBC on women’s literature, autobiography and trauma studies in the humanities.

McArthur has published on women’s literature, postcolonial literature, settler colonial life and disability narratives.

The event will be held at the Penticton Museum and Archives at 785 Main Street and is open to the public.

The doors will open at 6 p.m. and the panel discussion will begin at 6:30 p.m., through to 7:30 p.m. The event will end at 8 p.m. Light refreshments will be served. Seating will be first-come-first-served.

City of Penticton facilities will be closed on Friday to observe the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and will reopen Monday.

The closure affects City Hall, City Yards, Penticton Community Centre, McLaren Arena, Penticton Public Library and the Penticton Museum & Archives.