Sharron Proulx-Turner

{{Infobox person

| name = Sharron Proulx-Turner

| image = Sharron Proulx-Turner 2009.png

| alt =

| caption = Proulx-Turner in 2009

| birth_name =

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1953|4|21}}

| birth_place = Metcalfe, Ontario

| death_date = {{Death date and age|2016|1953}}

| death_place = Calgary, Alberta

| nationality =

| other_names =

| occupation = Writer

| years_active =

| known_for =

| notable_works =

| children = 2

}}

Sharron Proulx-Turner (pseudonym, Becky Lane; d. November 2016) was a two-spirit Métis writer. She investigated themes of Métis storytelling and was recognized as a mentor to other writers.

Early life and education

Sharron Proulx-Turner was born on April 21, 1953, in Metcalfe, Ontario, and her ancestry is of Mohawk, Huron-Wendat, Algonquin, Ojibwe, Mi'kmaw, French, Scottish, and Irish peoples. She was a member of the Métis Nation of Alberta. Proulx-Turner was diagnosed with dyslexia and other learning challenges as a young girl, but on her fourth birthday, Proulx-Turner received a dictionary from her "Nokomis," which in Ojibwe translates to grandmother.{{Cite journal|date=April 1983|title=June Drenning Holmquist, editor. They Chose Minnesota: A Survey of the State's Ethnic Groups. (Publications of the Minnesota Historical Society.) St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press. 1981. Pp. xiii, 614. $45.00|journal=The American Historical Review|doi=10.1086/ahr/88.2.487|issn=1937-5239}} Proulx-Turner would point to a word and her, grandmother would tell her a story. This was when Proulx-Turner learned to love language.

Proulx-Turner earned her undergraduate and master's degrees in English, focusing on Feminist Bio-theory, at the University of Calgary.

Career

Her first publication, Where the Rivers Join: A Personal Account of Healing from Ritual Abuse, was published under the pseudonym Becky Lane to protect her identity as her life was still endangered.

Her writing covers a variety of genres: poetry, memoir, and mixed-genre historical fiction. She is widely anthologized, appearing in Double Lives: Writing and Motherhood,{{Cite book|title=Double lives : writing and motherhood|date=2008|publisher=McGill-Queen's University Press|others=Stonehouse, Cathy., Lam, Fiona Tinwei, 1964–, Cowan, Shannon, 1973–|isbn=9780773574595|location=Montréal|oclc=760074087}} Crisp Blue Edges: Indigenous Creative Non-Fiction,{{Cite book|title=Crisp blue edges : indigenous creative non-fiction|date=2000|publisher=Theytus Books|others=Marsden, Rasunah, 1949–|isbn=978-0919441927|location=Penticton, BC|oclc=45190668}} My Home as I Remember,{{Cite book|title=My home as I remember|date=2000|publisher=Natural Heritage Books|others=Maracle, Lee., Laronde, Sandra.|isbn=9781554882366|location=Toronto|oclc=649903662|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/myhomeasiremembe0000unse}} and An Anthology of Canadian Native Literature in English.{{Cite web|url=https://www.folio.ca/supporting-aboriginal-writing/|title=Supporting Aboriginal writing|website=Supporting Aboriginal writing|language=en-ca|access-date=2019-04-23}} Proulx-Turner acted as a mentor to writers in the Canadian literature community, particularly for emerging Indigenous writers, and advocated on behalf of the field of Indigenous literature and its writers. She created opportunities for Two-Spirit and gender non-conforming people in ceremony and in writing communities.{{Cite book|title=Why Indigenous literatures matter|last=Justice, Daniel Heath|isbn=978-1771121767|location=Waterloo, Ontario, Canada|oclc=910987272|year = 2018}} Spirituality was an integral part of Proulx-Turner's writing process.{{Cite book|title=An Anthology of Canadian Native Literature in english|last=Moses|first=Daniel|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2013|isbn=978-0-19-544353-0|location=Don Mills|pages=417}}

In the fourth-grade, Proulx-Turner wrote her first poem and went on to publish a memoir, collections of poetry and a mixed genre historical fiction.{{Cite web|url=https://saymag.com/sharron-proulx-turner/|title=Sharron Proulx-Turner|last=sarah|date=2018-06-14|website=SAY Magazine|access-date=2019-03-22}} Proulx-Turner has also been published in several anthologies and literary journals throughout her career{{Cite journal|last=Wunker|first=Erin|date=Spring 2007|title=Speaking, Pausing for Breath, and Gardening|url=https://www.proquest.com/openview/3b11787af729cde4440aed4a6f719df9/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=47638|journal=Canadian Literature|issue=192|pages=167–169, 215|id={{ProQuest|}}}} before her death from cancer in 2016. In 2017, her final publication was released posthumously by Kegedonce Press, in honor of her. Since then, she has had a dedication to her written in the Auto/Biography Studies Journal.{{Cite journal|doi=10.1080/08989575.2018.1389817|title=Dedication|journal = A/B: Auto/Biography Studies|volume = 33|pages = 1|year = 2018|s2cid=220309515}}{{Dead link|date=April 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

Death and legacy

After she was diagnosed with cancer, the Indigenous Studies Literary Studies Association hosted a roundtable on her works: "Decolonial Solidarities and the Work of Sharron Proulx-Turner" which brought together writers to reflect on her influence as an activist, editor, and mentor.{{Cite web|url=http://www.indigenousliterarystudies.org/conference-program|title=2nd Annual Gathering 2016|website=Indigenous Literary Studies Association|language=en-US|access-date=2019-04-23}} After her death in 2016, the themes in her writing were the focus of a symposium held in her honour,{{Cite web|url=https://www.tiahouse.ca/creole-metisse-of-french-canada-me-symposium-in-honour-of-sharron-proulx-turner/|title=Creole Métisse of French Canada, Me: A Symposium in Honour of Sharron Proulx-Turner|last=Jacobsen|first=Mikka|date=2018-11-02|website=The Insurgent Architects' House for Creative Writing|language=en-CA|access-date=2019-04-23|archive-date=2019-04-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190406222114/https://www.tiahouse.ca/creole-metisse-of-french-canada-me-symposium-in-honour-of-sharron-proulx-turner/|url-status=dead}} entitled creole métisse of french canada, me, and held November 23–24, 2018 at the University of Calgary.{{Cite web|url=https://www.tiahouse.ca/creole-metisse-of-french-canada-me-symposium-in-honour-of-sharron-proulx-turner/|title=Creole Métisse of French Canada, Me: A Symposium in Honour of Sharron Proulx-Turner|last=Jacobsen|first=Mikka|date=2018-11-02|website=The Insurgent Architects' House for Creative Writing|access-date=2019-03-27|archive-date=2019-04-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190406222114/https://www.tiahouse.ca/creole-metisse-of-french-canada-me-symposium-in-honour-of-sharron-proulx-turner/|url-status=dead}}

As she wrote in her book, One Bead at a Time, the purpose of her writing is to: "...give back to the women and children whose stories so often go untold. To give back to the spirits of the Indigenous children that have been and are still missing."

Selected works

Publications & Contributions	Publication Date	Description
class="wikitable"
creole métisse of french canada, me	2017
One Bead at a Time: A Memoir by Beverly Little Thunder	2016	This memoir is an oral narrative of Beverly Little Thunder's stories that have been transcribed by Proulx-Turner.
Anthology of Canadian Native Literature In English \|2013 \|Her poem "a horse's nest egg is very large" was featured with an introduction from Proulx-Turner describing her relationship with her Métis grandmother.
the trees are still bending south	2012
Salish Seas: an anthology of text + image	2011
iLit Remix: A Revolution of Text Forms{{Cite book\|title=Remix : a revolution in text forms\|date=2011\|publisher=McGraw-Hill Ryerson\|others=Cooke, Rachel., Jackson, Lyanda., White, Melanie., Curk, Mary., Barwin, Gary.\|isbn=9780071067010\|location=Whitby, Ont.\|oclc=769788421}}	2011 Aug
iLit Strength and Struggle: Perspectives From First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Peoples in Canada {{Cite book\|title=Strength and struggle : perspectives from First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples in Canada\|date=2011\|publisher=McGraw-Hill Ryerson\|others=Mishenene, Rachel A., Toulouse, Pamela Rose., Augustine, Denise., Atcheson, Joyce.\|isbn=9780071067034\|location=Toronto\|oclc=754227277}}	2011 May
She is Reading Her Blanket with Her Hands: The Dedication Poems	2008	Dedicated to Proulx-Turner's Mother
she walks for days inside a thousand eyes: a two-spirit story{{cite journal \|last1=Jacobs \|first1=Madelaine \|title=Vocations: First Nations Voices \|journal=Canadian Literature \|date=Spring 2011 \|issue=208 \|pages=160–162, 202 \|url=https://www.proquest.com/openview/c2e126261f2006abdbdade05d1fec76a/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=47638 \|id={{ProQuest\|}}\|access-date=16 April 2019}}	2008	A book of poems, that delve into life a two-spirited woman.
What the auntys say {{cite journal \|last1=Sing \|first1=Pamela \|title=Intersections of Memory, Ancestral Language, and Imagination; or, the Textual Production of Michif Voices as Cultural Weaponry \|journal=Studies in Canadian Literature \|date=2006 \|volume=31 \|issue=1 \|pages=107–108 \|url=https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/SCL/article/view/10202/10552 \|access-date=16 April 2019}}	2002
Where the Rivers Join: A Personal Account of Healing from Ritual Abuse	1995	Proulx-Turner published under her pseudonym, Becky Lane. Her memoir was the first book she published after graduating from the University of Calgary.