Writing alumna Chyana Marie Sage ’23 is set to publish her memoir Soft as Bones with House of Anansi in January 2025.
Structured around journal entries Sage has kept for her entire life, letters she wrote to her father who was in and out of jail throughout her childhood, and indigenous cultural artifacts, Soft as Bones is a highly lyrical four-part quest for understanding.
Each part is intended to represent one stage of Sage’s healing journey. She describes writing Soft as Bones as the most cathartic experience of her life and as something that helped her sift through childhood memories more than any amount of therapy. As a descendant of Residential School and Sixties Scoop survivors, much of Sage’s writing speaks to indigenous identity and critiques the legacies of colonialism.
“I came into this program with the sole mission of working on my book and getting it published,” said Sage. “It is, quite literally, a manifestation of my hard work, dreams, and perseverance. I wrote this book for little Chyana, who didn’t get to have a voice—this book deal and this book is me giving her her voice back.”
Chyana Marie Sage is a Cree, Métis, and Mohawk writer and originally hails from Northern Alberta, Canada. Her writing can be read in HuffPost, Matriarch Movement, The New Quarterly, The Gateway, and elsewhere. Her poetry collections include Dear You and I Used To Love You.
