Author Chyana Marie Sage Awarded Grant by Canada Council of Arts for Upcoming Memoir Soft as Bones

New York, New York–( – August 13, 2024) – The Canada Council of Arts has awarded New York City based author Chyana Marie Sage a $25,000 grant for her upcoming memoir Soft as Bones. Sage was awarded the maximum allotment for this grant under the Research and Creation component of the Explore and Create Program.

Chyana Marie Sage is a Cree, Métis, and Salish writer from Edmonton, Alberta. She graduated from Columbia University with an MFA in Creative Nonfiction. Her debut essay “Soar” won first place in the Edna Staebler Essay Contest, then won the Silver Medal in the National Magazine Awards.

In addition to her writing, Sage has also worked with the charity Indspire, which is an Indigenous national charity that invests in the education of First Nations, Inuit and Métis people for the long-term benefit of these individuals, their families and communities, and Canada.

With a release date scheduled for May 2025, Sage’s memoir chronicles the author’s upbringing with her father – a drug dealer who was sent to prison for abusing her older sister – and the impact of this on her life and relationships going forward. By reflecting on her family’s history, Chyana is able to examine the impact of generational abuse which began with her father’s father who was forcibly removed from his family by the residential schools and Sixties Scoops programs in Canada.

When speaking about her writing process, author Chyana Marie Sage stated, “I wrote this story in the beginning to help myself heal, but as I continued writing, the healing began to transcend generations. The harsh reality of all the injustices committed against my family, our people, our communities, reverberates through the generations. My story, my book, my honesty, shows all the ways that these abuses have trickled down and impacted the future generations. I wrote my story for all of us. It will resonate with Indigenous people, but it’s also my hope that it will educate colonial settlers on this continent in understanding why things are the way they are today.”

Contact:

Chyana Marie Sage
Email: chyanamariesage@gmail.com
Website: https://chyanamariesage.com/

NT5