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Arielle Twist is a Nehiyaw (Cree) multidisciplinary artist and sex educator based in Halifax, Nova Scotia located in Canada. She is originally from George Gordon First Nation in Saskatchewan. and identifies as a Two-Spirit, transgender woman She was mentored in her early career by writer Kai Cheng Thom and has since published a collection of poems in 2019 in her book Disintegrate / Dissociate, began working as a sex educator at Venus Envy and become an MFA candidate at OCAD University Graduate Studies in the Interdisciplinary Art, Media and Design (IAMD) program. Twist has also expanded her artistry past poetry into visual and performance art. Over her time as an artist, Arielle Twist has had her work featured in Khyber Centre for the Arts, Toronto Media Arts Centre, La Centrale Galerie Powerhouse, Centre for Art Tapes, Art Gallery of Mississauga, Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, and Agnes Etherington Art Centre. Twist has also won the Indigenous Voices Award for English poetry and the Dayne Ogilvie Prize for emerging LGBTQ writers in 2020.

Career

Writing

Arielle Twist began writing in 2017 after being encouraged by her mentor Kai Cheng Thom whom she met at Thom’s book launch at Venus Envy. Twist went on to publish the essay "What It's Like to Be a Native Trans Woman on Thanksgiving" in Them on November 23, 2017. After their publishing debut, Twist went on to perform her first poetry reading at Venus Envy alongside her mentor. She also attended the Naked Heart festival in Toronto and began a residency at the Banff center where she debuted her first poems. Arielle met Billy-Ray Belcourt during her Banff Centre who guided her through her first manuscript. Twist debuted as an author with a collection of thirty-eight poems in her book Disintegrate / Dissociate published on June 4, 2019 by Arsenal Pulp Press. The book focuses on "human relationships, death, and metamorphosis". Her poems, which have been described as raw, confrontational, and eloquent, examine themes of colonization, kinship, displacement, and transmisogyny. About her writing, Twist states that "It feels like the most vulnerable thing ever done". Twist says Disintegrate / Dissociate is about "love, loss, and grief" as well as her coping with her trauma through dissociation. The poem "Manifest" in the book was dedicated to editor Billy-Ray Belcourt who also held residency at the Banff Centre while Twist was there. In late 2019, Arielle also contributed to the Together Apart Series. Twist's book publication along with her collection of essays has earned Twist recognition and awards including the Dayne Ogilvie Prize for LGBTQ Emerging Writers from the Writers' Trust of Canada and the Indigenous Voices Award for English poetry in 2020.

Awards and nominations

Published work and exhibitions

References

1. ^ "Arielle Twist". CBC Books. June 26, 2019.
2. ^ van Koeverden, Jane (April 29, 2019). "Arielle Twist explores grief in her poetry and finds a home in the Indigenous arts community".
3. ^ McCracken, Brennan (February 28, 2019). "Arielle Twist's becoming".
4. ^ Mullin, Mogan (August 13, 2020). "Behind the verse with Arielle Twist".
5. Paglione, Joshua (October 29, 2020). "IAMD MFA student, Arielle Twist wins 10K Dayne Ogilvie Prize for Emerging LGBTQ Writers!".
6. "Arielle Twist".
7. ^ "Winners Announced for 2020 Indigenous Voices Awards". June 22, 2020.
8. "4 emerging Canadian writers receive $10K prizes from Writers' Trust of Canada". CBC Books. October 21, 2020.
9. dogeared (2018-06-27). "BWS 11.07.18: Arielle Twist". Brockton Writers Series. Retrieved 2023-03-07.
10. Gilroy, Corinne (18 March 2019). "Disintegrate/Dissociate by Arielle Twist".
11. Arielle, Twist (2019). Disintegrate/Dissociate. Canada: Arsenal Pulp Press.
12. Twist, Arielle. DISINTEGRATE/DISSOCIATE.
13. "Arielle Twist".
14. ^ "Arielle Twist | Writers' Trust of Canada". Arielle Twist | Writers' Trust of Canada. Retrieved 2023-03-07.
15. "2019 Artist Recognition Award Winners Announced | Arts Nova Scotia". artsns.ca. Retrieved 2023-03-07.
16. "Announcing the finalists for the $10,000 Dayne Ogilvie Prize for LGBTQ Emerging Writers – The BPC". www.thebpc.ca. Retrieved 2023-03-07.
17. "4 emerging Canadian writers receive $10K prizes from Writers' Trust of Canada". CBC Books. Retrieved March 7, 2023.
18. "2020 IVAs". Indigenous Voices Awards. Retrieved 2023-03-07.
19. Twist, Arielle (2017-11-23). "What It's Like to Be a Native Trans Woman on Thanksgiving". Them. Retrieved 2023-03-07.
20. Twist, Arielle. "On Translating the Untranslatable". Canadian Art. Retrieved 2023-03-07.
21. Twist, Arielle. "Soakers". The Fiddlehead (277): 115.
22. "Rework". This Magazine. 2018-09-04. Retrieved 2023-03-07.
23. "CONTEMPORARY POETICS OF TRANS WOMEN OF COLOUR ARTIST". KAMA LA MACKEREL. 2019-03-27. Retrieved 2023-03-07.
24. "Vacant Faces | Arielle Twist and Brandon Hoax". Mad Mimi. Retrieved 2023-03-07.
25. Twist, Arielle (2019). Disintegrate/Dissociate. Arsenal Pulp Press. ISBN 978-1551527604.
26. Twist, Arielle. "Projections". Together Apart (2) – via Grunt Gallery.
27. "Poems for Impending Doom - Digital Exhibition Launch Party". Canadian Art. Retrieved 2023-03-07.
28. Twist, Arielle. "Cumming Commons". Canadian Art. Retrieved 2023-03-07.
29. Twist, Arielle. "Split Tooth". Canadian Art. Retrieved 2023-03-07.
30. Twist, Arielle. "Trancestry". Canadian Art. Retrieved 2023-03-07.
31. Twist, Arielle. "POST EMO THEORY". Canadian Art. Retrieved 2023-03-07.
32. Twist, Arielle. "How streaming video games on Twitch helped me find pure, unapologetic joy in the midst of a pandemic". Retrieved March 7, 2023.

• 21st-century Canadian poets
• 21st-century Canadian women writers
• 21st-century First Nations writers
• Canadian women poets
• Cree poets
• Cree women writers
• Cree writers
• LGBTQ First Nations people
• Canadian LGBTQ poets
• Transgender poets
• Two-spirit people
• Writers from Saskatchewan
• Living people
• George Gordon First Nation people
• 21st-century Canadian LGBTQ people
• Canadian transgender women
• Canadian transgender writers