Kukum by Michel Jean

Kukum by Michel Jean

Finalist, Governor General's Literary Award in the Translation Category
Longlist, 2025 Dublin Literary Award

A Quebec bestseller based on the life of Michel Jean’s great-grandmother that delivers an empathetic portrait of drastic change in an Innu community.

Kukum recounts the story of Almanda Siméon, an orphan raised by her aunt and uncle, who falls in love with a young Innu man despite their cultural differences and goes on to share her life with the Pekuakami Innu community. They accept her as one of their own: Almanda learns their language, how to live a nomadic existence, and begins to break down the barriers imposed on Indigenous women. Unfolding over the course of a century, the novel details the end of traditional ways of life for the Innu, as Almanda and her family face the loss of their land and confinement to reserves, and the enduring violence of residential schools. 

Kukum intimately expresses the importance of Innu ancestral values and the need for freedom nomadic peoples feel to this day.

An admirable bookJean makes us feel the loss experienced by Quebec’s Innu community through a highly personal story … Kukum serves as a reminder to listen to your elders, heed the lessons of the past, and question what is done in the name of progress.

* Montreal Review of Books *

There is no escaping the history of this country, but that does not make this story a tragedy. It is first and foremost a celebration of a life well-lived.

* Winnipeg Free Press *

MICHEL JEAN is an award-winning writer, and former news anchor and investigative journalist, much appreciated by the Quebec public. He worked at Radio-Canada and the Quebec television network TVA before devoting himself full-time to his writing. He has published over a dozen books including his bestselling novels Kukum, an exploration of his Innu roots and winner of the Prix France-Québec, and Qimmik, which deals with a harrowing chapter of Inuit history. His work has been translated into several languages. his most recent novel being Kabasa. Michel Jean has also edited two short story collections featuring Indigenous voices: Amun, released in fall 2016, and Wapke, published in May 2021, both of which are available in English. Michel Jean is Innu from Mashteuiatsh, and his native origins resonate in many of his writings. SUSAN OURIOU is an award-winning fiction writer and literary translator with over seventy translations and co-translations of fiction, non-fiction, children’s and young-adult literature to her credit. She has received the Governor General’s Literary Award for Translation and, in 2024, her translation of Catherine Leroux's The Future won CBC's Canada Reads. Her translations have also been long-listed for awards such as the International Dublin Literary Award, the Carol Shields Prize for Fiction and the Giller Prize. as well as appearing on IBBY’s Honor List. She has also published Nathan, a novel for young readers, and Damselfish, short-listed for the WGA's Georges Bugnet award for fiction.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781487010904
Title	Kukum
Author	Michel Jean
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	House of Anansi Press Ltd ,Canada
Year published	2023-08-24
Number of pages	224
Prizes	Short-listed for Governor General's Literary Award in the Translation Category 2023 (Canada)
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.