Greg Young-Ing

Introduction

I was an aspiring writer fresh out of university in 1990. That
was the year I had some work published in the first volume of
Gatherings: The En’owkin Journal of First North American Peoples pub-
lished by Theytus Books. I vividly recall the excitement running
through the Aboriginal writers community about the first journal
in North America that would publish a current sampling of
Aboriginal literature each year.

The following year, I was asked to be Managing Editor of
Theytus Books. Though I was young and inexperienced , I could
not turn down the challenge of working with the first Aboriginal
owned press in Canada. And so I could scarcely believe it when I
found myself Editor of Gatherings Volume II in 1991 and Volume 111
in 1992. After that we decided to approach different Aboriginal
writers and /or teachers to edit the journal each year.

Thanks to Jeannette Armstrong, Linda Jaine, Don Fiddler, Beth
Cuthand, Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm, Joyce Joe, William George,
Susan Beaver, and the many others who have volunteered their
time and talent toward the editorial effort required to compile this
journal each year. Many thanks also to the hundreds of Aboriginal
writers who have contributed their work over the years.

In this ninth volume, we have sought submissions under the
theme “Beyond Victimization: Forging a Path of Celebration.”
Aboriginal Peoples have much to celebrate. Our ceremonies, liter-
ature, stories, songs, dances and cultural traditions, are all testi-
mony of nations steeped in pride, strength and forbearance.
Through cultural celebration, we enable ourselves to respond pos-
itively to the issues of the day—thus empowering the agenda of
achieving appropriate cultural, political and legal recognition. We
hope this theme has produced a volume that encompasses a wide
range of literary approaches.

Here in 1998, after publishing eight volumes of Gatherings and
over fifty titles, I find myself once again at the editorial helm of
another volume of the journal, as we look back and ponder the
prospect of celebrating one decade of Gatherings next year.

Greg Young-Ing,
Managing Editor