The debut novel from an author based in Kingston is among 16 finalists in Ontario to be nominated for the Trillium Book Prize, celebrating some of the year’s best releases in literature in Ontario as elected by Ontario Creates.
A release from Ontario Creates says that this year’s finalists “showcase the vitality and breadth of the province’s literary talent”, with the variety of nominees – both French and English publications – spanning short stories, memoir, novel, poetry, and nonfiction this year.
Otoniya J. Okot Bitek, who these days calls Kingston home and teaches at Queen’s, is one of this year’s nominees off the strength of her debut novel We, The Kindling.
Her novel, a debut in the format for Okot Bitek, aims to tell the story of young Ugandan girls who were abducted by the Lord’s Resistance Army, distilling a variety of difficult experiences through the eyes of three main characters: former abductees of the Lord’s Resistance Army now adults navigating life while carrying the trauma of their past.
Okot Bitek says the novel is about storytelling at its core, and showcasing the perseverance of women whose perspective hasn’t been as highlighted in stories told in past.
“Lots of people have written about what we call child soldiers – academics, reporters, filmmakers, poets,” Okot Bitek said.
“I wanted to think about the tradition of storytelling, how we use it as a way to remember, and how we use it as a way for teaching. Also to honor these women who are very brave, and are struggling still, but leading the way to show how you can live as a whole person after such traumatic events.”
While Otok Bitek is an accomplished writer of poetry, including two previous releases while living in Kingston, this novel represents a bit of a departure for her.
She says the book was actually written before any of her now published poetry books – and says trying to do justice to the stories she has amalgamated while trying also to make sure it’s both accessible and honest has presented her with a new challenge in writing entirely.
“Poetry was from my perspective and they were not so demanding of me,” Otok Bitek said.
“These are things that did not happen to me. And so my obligation was to be respectful, while still remaining faithful to the story… there’s huge leaps of imagination at work there that poetry did not require.”
Otok Bitek says she actually finished drafting the novel in 2011, but at the time it leaned more creative non-fiction and read mostly like a “litany of pain”
She says things have aligned to bring the book into the world now, as a fiction, and it was important for her to finish the novel and tell war stories through the perspective of women.
Now in her 5th year living in Ontario as a Kingston resident, her first published novel could earn her $20,000 through the Trillium Book Award.
For Otok Bitek, the nomination makes her feel as though she, and her writing, are being embraced in the province.
“I just moved to Kingston in 2021 and I’d been in Vancouver for a long time, so I felt that, it’s the first nod to say you are part of Ontario now,” Otok Bitek said.
“Also, it’s a book from Northern Uganda. I never imagined that it would be sitting side by side with other stories of the world.”
