RISING STAR: Billy-Ray burst onto the scene with his Griffin win and GG nomination. Since then he’s become a fixture in an exciting new cohort of Canadian writers who are changing the landscape of CanLit.

AWARDS CONTENDER: In his short career, he’s already racked up many prizes, honours, and scholarships, and we expect committees and juries to take an interest in what he does next.

UNDERREPRESENTED VOICE ON URGENT ISSUES: Billy-Ray is a queer indigenous writer tackling racism and political oppression, gun violence, sexual health, and the epidemic of suicide among indigenous youth.

DEBUT IN THIS GENRE: Already an accomplished poet, Billy-Ray now gets to showcase his prose, opening him up to a wider readership.

SMALLER FORMAT: A slim, small-format package in the vein of Heart Berries at an affordable price point for the target market.

BILLY-RAY BELCOURT (he/him) is a writer and scholar from the Driftpile Cree Nation. He won the 2018 Griffin Poetry Prize for his debut collection, This Wound Is a World, which was also a finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Award. His second book of poetry, NDN Coping Mechanisms: Notes from the Field, was longlisted for Canada Reads 2020. A recipient of the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship and an Indspire Award, Belcourt is Assistant Professor of Indigenous Creative Writing at UBC.

Author Residence: Vancouver, British Columbia

Author Hometown: Joussard, Northern Alberta

WINNER OF THE HUBERT EVANS NON-FICTION PRIZE
WINNER OF THE 2020-2021 ALCUIN DESIGN AWARD FOR NON-FICTION PROSE
FINALIST FOR THE JIM DEVA PRIZE FOR WRITING THAT PROVOKES
FINALIST FOR THE GOVERNOR GENERAL'S LITERARY AWARD FOR NON-FICTION
FINALIST FOR THE LAMBDA LITERARY AWARD FOR GAY MEMOIR/BIOGRAPHY

One of Quill & Quire's 2020 Books of the Year

“Displays a pervading lucidity, akin to dreaming while standing wide awake, feet firmly on the soil . . . [A] fascinating exploration of the impact of colonialism in all its ramifications.”
—Quill & Quire (starred)

“A History of My Brief Body knocked me on my ass . . . These essays transcend genre and become something else entirely―a reliquary of self-love and becoming.”
—Buzzfeed

“Elegantly crafted . . . an urgently needed, unyielding book of theoretical and intimate strength.”
—Kirkus Reviews (starred)

“Slim but immersive, a work of joy and reckoning, and of imagining a better world.”
—LitHub

“An incomparable book full of emotion, analysis, and poetic beauty.”
—Star Tribune

“Bursting with all the movements of sex, riot, and repose, this book presents us with a shock of recognition and reclamation, and we are better for it―punch drunk and aching but, oh, so much better. I’m gutted by his brilliant mind.” ―Cherie Dimaline, author of Empire of Wild and The Marrow Thieves

“A passionate and vital autobiography about the intellect, the culture, and the flesh, as it bears its assaults and preserves a true light.”
—Sheila Heti, author of Motherhood and How Should a Person Be?

“An NDN love story that will stop you in your tracks. I’m struck by the gentleness in Belcourt’s words, his ability to move across scales, and the complexity of his thought. He’s achieved something here that we’ve collectively been trying to achieve for a long time, and it makes me feel proud.”
—Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, author of This Accident of Being Lost

“Billy-Ray Belcourt uses a dexterity of language and form as a container for memory and nostalgia as vehicles for truth about a still-blooming present. I love a book where a writer treats themselves and their own histories with gentleness and care, and this book is a towering achievement on that front.”
―Hanif Abdurraqib, author of They Can't Kill Us Until They Kill Us

“With precision and care, Billy-Ray Belcourt presses thought against feeling to make, in each essay, an unbounded space for knowing and for staying whole.”
―Elissa Washuta, author of My Body Is a Book of Rules

“Billy-Ray Belcourt is proving himself to be a literary genius. His poetry and prose are tender and brutal and brilliant.”
—Heather O’Neill, author of The Lonely Hearts Hotel