• Age: 17
• Grade: 12

David Groulx's latest collection offers his readers a handful of poems as cutting and brilliant as glass shards, offering glimpses of the anger, pain and lost beauties of his ancestors. These poems cut deep with their clear-eyed honesty, their stripped away pain and suffering. A subtle weaving of black humour and fleeting touches of beauty, as well at the careful craftsmanship of the writing make these poems iconic. This is a collection that should not be missed.

David Groulx was raised in the mining community of Elliot Lake in northern Ontario. He is proud of his Native roots — his mother is Ojibwa Indian and his father is French Canadian. David received his B.A. degree from the Lakehead University, where he won the Munro Poetry Prize. He has previously published five poetry books and his poems have appeared in over a hundred periodicals in Canada, UK, Australia, Germany, Austria, Turkey, and the USA. He lives in Ottawa. Shirley Ida Williams is a member of the Bird Clan of the Ojibwa and Odawa First Nations of Canada. She was born and raised at Wikwemikong First Nations Reserve on Manitoulin Island and currently resides in Peterborough, Ontario. She received her B.A. degree in Native Studies from Trent University and M.A. at York University. She has lectured across Canada promoting Nishnaabe language and culture and worked on many language training and translation projects for Heritage Canada, Ontario Ministry of Education, Department of Indian Affairs and other national organizations.

David Groulx's profile page

"Groulx's volume is full of yearnings, pain, and frustration; the writing is honest, lucid, and relentless in its efforts to understand the injustices heaped upon an unsuspecting but thriving culture." - Prairie Fire Review of Books

"There is tenderness in Groulx; there is beauty alongside difficulty. But he has thunderbolts to throw — to illuminate consciousness and rock consciences — and he throws them, to overthrow complacency." - The Chronicle Herald

"This collection of poetry is a passionate snapshot of poignant aspects of life on the rez depicted in simple scenes that are propelled forward with a sparse economy of language. It is little wonder that Groulx has won awards for his poetry and it has appeared globally in over one hundred periodicals." - Canadian Literature

A Difficult Beauty