Editing with Indigenous Authors: The Author-Editor Relationship behind Genocidal Love.

Bevann Fox is a member of Pasqua First Nation, originally from Piapot First Nation. In 2012 she received a Bachelor of Arts in Arts and Culture and in 2018 a Master in Business Administration, Leadership from the University of Regina. In 2014 she was honoured with the YWCA Women of Distinction Award—Arts, Culture and Heritage.

She received an Indigenous Voices Creative Non-fiction and Life Writing Award for Genocidal Love in 2021, which was also honoured with the Creative Saskatchewan Publishing Award at the Saskatchewan Book Awards.

For thirteen years, Sarah Harvey was an in-house editor for Orca Book Publishers. During her time at Orca she developed, acquired, and edited award-winning fiction and non-fiction for kids aged seven to seventeen. She is now a freelance editor.

Sarah reads (and edits) all kinds of books—sad ones, funny ones, dark ones, light ones, short ones, long ones. She loves burrowing into the world of a great novel, and is also the author of a baker’s dozen of books for young readers. Her latest book is a board book called What Do You See?

Karen May Clark is an experienced Acquisitions Editor, with a lifelong commitment to literature and the humanities, social justice, and environmentalism. She pursued her doctoral studies in Indigenous and Canadian literatures from University of Alberta and a Master of Arts in memoir writing and testimony. As an academic, Karen has earned many accolades, including a Governor General’s Award, University of Regina President’s Medal, and a SSHRC doctoral award for her dissertation, “Witnessing Whiteness: The Indian Residential School System in Canada.”

She is currently the Senior Acquisitions Editor at University of Regina Press, where she has worked with numerous award-winning authors, including Harold Johnson, Blair Stonechild, Solomon Ratt, Janice Forsyth and Lynn Gehl. In 2017, she had the honour to be trained by Warren Cariou, Cherie Dimaline, Gregory Scofield and Greg Younging at the Humber College “Editing Indigenous Manuscripts” program.

Genocidal Love: How can we heal in the face of trauma? How can we transform intergenerational pain into a passion for community and healing?

Presenting herself as “Myrtle,” residential school survivor and Indigenous television personality Bevann Fox explores these essential questions by recounting her life through fiction. She shares memories of an early childhood filled with love with her grandparents—until she is sent to residential school at the age of seven. Her horrific experiences of abuse there left her without a voice, timid and nervous, never sure, never trusting, affecting her romantic relationships and family bonds for years to come.

This is the story of Myrtle battling to recover her voice. Genocidal Love is a powerful confirmation of the long-lasting consequences of residential school violence—and a moving story of finding a path towards healing.