Arielle Twist is a Nehiyaw (Cree) multidisciplinary artist and sex educator based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. She is originally from

George Gordon First Nation The George Gordon First Nation ( ''posâkanacîhk'') is a First Nations band government located near the village of Punnichy, Saskatchewan, in Canada. The nation has an enrolled population of 3,752 people, 1,191 of whom live on the band's reser ...

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada. It is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and to the south by the ...

. and describes herself as a Two-Spirit, transgender woman. She was mentored in her early career by the writer

Kai Cheng Thom Kai Cheng Thom (born March 12, 1991) is a Chinese-Canadian writer, performance artist, mental health community worker, youth counsellor, and former social worker.Harron Walker"How to Choose Love at the End of the World" ''Vice'', February 14, 2020. ...

. After publishing a poetry collection, ''Disintegrate / Dissociate'', in 2019, she began working as a sex educator at Venus Envy and become an MFA candidate at OCAD University Graduate Studies in the Interdisciplinary Art, Media and Design programme. She has also worked in visual and performance art. The institutions that feature in Twist's ''curriculum vitae'' include the Khyber Centre for the Arts, the Toronto Media Arts Centre, La Centrale Galerie Powerhouse, the Centre for Art Tapes, the Art Gallery of Mississauga, the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia and the Agnes Etherington Art Centre. Twist won the

Indigenous Voices Award The Indigenous Voices Awards are a Canada, Canadian literary award program, created in 2017 to honour Indigenous literatures in Canada.

for English poetry and the

Dayne Ogilvie Prize The Dayne Ogilvie Prize for LGBTQ Emerging Writers is a Canadian literary award, presented annually by the Writers' Trust of Canada to an emerging Canadian writer who is part of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer community. Origina ...

for emerging LGBTQ writers in 2020.

Career

Writing

Arielle Twist began writing in 2017 after being encouraged by her mentor Kai Cheng Thom whom she met at Thom’s book launch at Venus Envy. Twist went on to publish the essay "What It's Like to Be a Native Trans Woman on Thanksgiving" in ''Them'' on November 23, 2017. After their publishing debut, Twist went on to perform her first poetry reading at Venus Envy alongside her mentor. She also attended the Naked Heart festival in Toronto and began a residency at the Banff center where she debuted her first poems. Arielle met Billy-Ray Belcourt during her Banff Centre who guided her through her first manuscript. Twist debuted as an author with a collection of thirty-eight poems in her book ''Disintegrate / Dissociate'' published on June 4, 2019 by Arsenal Pulp Press. The book focuses on "human relationships, death, and metamorphosis". Her poems, which have been described as raw, confrontational, and eloquent, examine themes of

colonization 475px, Map of the year each country achieved List of sovereign states by date of formation, independence. Colonization (British English: colonisation) is a process of establishing occupation of or control over foreign territories or peoples f ...

kinship In anthropology, kinship is the web of social relationships that form an important part of the lives of all humans in all societies, although its exact meanings even within this discipline are often debated. Anthropologist Robin Fox says that ...

, displacement, and

transmisogyny Transmisogyny, otherwise known as trans-misogyny and transphobic misogyny, is the intersection of transphobia and misogyny as experienced by trans women and transfeminine people. The term was coined by Julia Serano in her 2007 book '' Whip ...

. About her writing, Twist states that "It feels like the most vulnerable thing

he has He or HE may refer to: Language * He (letter), the fifth letter of the Semitic abjads * He (pronoun), a pronoun in Modern English * He (kana), one of the Japanese kana (へ in hiragana and ヘ in katakana) * Ge (Cyrillic), a Cyrillic letter cal ...

ever done". Twist says ''Disintegrate / Dissociate'' is about "love, loss, and grief" as well as her coping with her trauma through dissociation. The poem "Manifest" in the book was dedicated to editor Billy-Ray Belcourt who also held residency at the Banff Centre while Twist was there. In late 2019, Arielle also contributed to the Together Apart Series. Twist's book publication along with her collection of essays has earned Twist recognition and awards including the Dayne Ogilvie Prize for LGBTQ Emerging Writers from the Writers' Trust of Canada and the Indigenous Voices Award for English poetry in 2020.

Awards and nominations

Published work and exhibitions

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Twist, Arielle 21st-century Canadian poets 21st-century Canadian women writers 21st-century First Nations writers Canadian women poets Cree poets Cree women writers Cree writers LGBTQ First Nations people Canadian LGBTQ poets Transgender poets Two-spirit people Poets from Saskatchewan Living people Year of birth missing (living people) George Gordon First Nation people 21st-century Canadian LGBTQ people Canadian transgender women Canadian transgender writers