2021 Year in Review- Winnipeg Poet Laureate Duncan Mercredi

2021 was Duncan Mercredi's second year as the Winnipeg Poet Laureate. The year began in isolation, although Duncan continued to create new works reflecting the life of the city and making appearances, usually via Zoom, to share his work with Winnipeggers. In March he was invited to City Council to bring remarks as the pandemic entered its second year and while the City marked Antiracism Week. He presented a poem, "we sit in silence," and reminded Councillors that we "can't get rid of racism with a one-week cultural awareness training". The same week, he celebrated the launch of his book mahikan ka onot: The Poetry of Duncan Mercredi in an online reading and interview with Warren Cariou and David Roberston.

In November, Duncan joined other members of the Indigenous Writers Collective to present The City is Still Red, the first gathering of the Collective in seven years. Fittingly held before a packed house at the West End Cultural Centre, the site of Duncan's first public reading back in 1990, the event celebrated Winnipeg's Indigenous literary talents with a star-studded lineup including Rosanna Deerchild, Elizabeth Denny, Trevor Greyeyes, Brett Huson, Sadie-Phoenix Lavoie, David McLeod, Leonard Sumner, Katherena Vermette, and Jordan Wheeler.

Before the year was out, Duncan released yet another book, this one titled 215. It consists of 40 poems written in response to the news during the summer of 2021 of unmarked graves at Indian Residential School sites across the country. The work is rooted in a dark chapter of history, and in it he does not mince words. Reflecting on the residential school experience—of the survivors, of those who never went home, and of the families and communities affected, he traces a line between the injustices of the past and the ills of the present. The book was published by the Winnipeg Arts Council and beautifully designed by Anishinaabekwe artist Rosalyn Boucha. A launch will be planned as gatherings are permitted in early 2022.

We are pleased that Duncan has agreed to stay on as Poet Laureate for another year, in the hope that he will be able to do more writing, make more appearances, and facilitate more gatherings in the coming year.