Tilly: A Story of Hope and Resilience
Tilly won the 2014 Burt Award for First Nations, Métis and Inuit Literature, it is a Canadian bestseller and is used in both high school and college courses to explore history and resilience through story.
Loosely based on author Monique Gray Smith’s own life, this revealing, important work of creative non-fiction tells the story of a young Indigenous woman coming of age in Canada in the 1980s. With compassion, insight and humour, Gray Smith illuminates the 20th-century history of Canada’s First Peoples—forced displacement, residential schools, tuberculosis hospitals, the Sixties Scoop. In a spirit of hope, this unique story captures the irrepressible resilience of Tilly, and of Indigenous peoples everywhere.
Tilly is available at independent bookstores across Canada, and on line from Sononis Press or from Amazon. Also available as an ebook on Amazon.
Awards: 2014 Burt Award for First Nations, Métis and Inuit Literature
Monique Gray Smith Wins 2014 Burt Award for First Nations, Métis and Inuit Literature First Prize. Shelagh Rogers and Wab Kinew co-hosted the Winnipeg 2014 gala for CODE’s Burt Award for First Nations, Métis and Inuit Literature, recognizing outstanding literary works for young adults written by First Nations, Métis and Inuit authors. Monique Gray Smith is awarded first prize Tilly, a Story of Hope and Resilience (published by Sono Nis Press). Learn More
Hear Monique talk about Tilly on Youtube.
Watch The Book Teaser
Hear a reader talk about impact of reading Tilly.