Survivor-Centred Visual Narratives

Category: awards

Gustav Heinemann Peace Prize awarded to Barbara Yelin for “Emmie Arbel. The Color of Memory” – Nov 29, 2024

We are honoured to announce that Barbara Yelin was awarded the annual Gustav Heinemann Peace Prize for children’s and young adult books by the State Office for Political Education in North Rhine-Westphalia for “Emmie Arbel. The Color of Memory” on November 29, 2024. Barbara was welcomed by Director of the Old Synagogue, Dr. Diana Matut and the Mayor of Essen, Thomas Kufen, and presented the award was by the Culture Minister, Ina Brandes, in Essen, Germany. Emmie Arbel also joined for the event, and participated in a reading with Barbara.

The Gustav Heinemann Peace Prize honors books that encourage children and young people to work for human rights, for non-violent forms of conflict resolution, for the integration of minorities and for peaceful coexistence. It is the most important peace policy award for children’s and young adult literature in the German-speaking countries.

The prize was founded in 1982 and commemorates the former Federal President Dr. Gustav W. Heinemann, who gave special impetus to peace research and education.

For more information about the event and award, please refer to the Landeszentrale für politische Bildung Nordrhein-Westfalen: https://www.politische-bildung.nrw/publikationen/heinemann-preis.

Gustav Heinemann Peace Prize awards ceremony on November 29, 2024 at the Old Synagogue in Essen, Germany (photography by Meike Schrömbgens and Roland Zerwinski).

Turtle Island Research Cluster Co-lead Duncan McCue awarded $57,900 Canada Council for the Arts Grant



We are very pleased to announce Turtle Island Research Cluster Co-lead Duncan McCue has been awarded a Canada Council for the Arts (CCA) grant of $57,900 to expand the production of his graphic novel project to over one hundred pages.

McCue, an Anishinaabe journalist and professor at Carleton University, is writing the graphic novel in collaboration with acclaimed Anishinaabe artist Mangeshig Pawis-Steckley. Tentatively titled “Indians Do Cry: A Hockey Survivance Story,” the narrative tells the true story of a father and son, George Kenny and Mike Auksi, from the Lac Seul First Nation in northern Ontario. Revolving around testimony from Kenny and Auksi, “Indians Do Cry” explores the impacts of Indian residential schools, intergenerational trauma, and the healing power of the game of hockey.

McCue’s successful project is entitled “Graphic Art in Genocide and Human Rights (Turtle Island Cluster)” and the grant was confirmed in August 2024. It is being funded through the Creating, Knowing and Sharing: The Arts and Cultures of First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples program of the CCA.

The grant funds will be used to compensate Pawis-Steckley for an additional 70 pages of artwork and McCue for his extra time involved in research, interviewing and authorship of the extended text. Funds will also be used for research materials, travel and counselling, if necessary.

Initial interviews and the draft manuscript for “Indians Do Cry” are complete. Pawis-Steckley is currently in the production phase of the book’s artwork, which is expected to be finished in the summer of 2025.

Check out the Turtle Island Research Cluster Page for more updates.