In Nłeʔkepmxcin — the language of the Nlaka’pamux First Nations — N’shaytkin means “a relation that has passed on, or those that came before us.” Chris Bose’s new novella — incorporating elements of faux-memoir, film script and storyboards as well as historical documents, maps, and pictographs — explores the failure of a mine tailings dam from five perspectives in BC’s interior. Set in and around the reserve of Nkemci’n outside Spences Bridge, Bose’s interwoven narratives tackle the impact of colonialism, environment disaster, and indigenous mythology told with subtle humour and deft introspection.
Written by Chris Bose. Drawn by Chris and Jayda Bose. Edited by David McIntosh. Dramaturgy by DD Kugler.
Chris Bose is a writer, multi-disciplinary artist, musician, curator and filmmaker. He is Nlaka’pamux/Secwepemc and currently spends his time in Kamloops, BC. . He is a published poet with Kegedonce Press. The drawings in N’shaytkin were created in combination with his daughter Jayda Bose.
battery opera launched the book with a series of performance events in December 2019 at grunt gallery, boombox, and other venues. View launch details here.
To watch a video of Chris talking about the artwork done as part of the book launch go here.
To watch a video of the launch activities go here.
ISBN 978-0-9950442-1-0
9″x 6″, hard cover, 147 pages (15 illustrations)
$20
Shipping in Canada: $15
Shipping internationally: $15
To order contact: adm@batteryopera.com
Reviews
N’shaytkin is a non-linear and irrepressibly uncolonial novella by Chris Bose, who brings to life the history of his own people, the Nlaka’pamux. Woven together using five different narrative approaches including storyboards, a first-person narrative, a film script, reports and pictographs, Bose tells the story of how European disease and greed for copper and gold tore apart the Nlaka’pamux way of life. He also tells some old Nlaka’pamux stories about giants and little people, sharing his visions of the ghosts that wander through this novella, bringing warnings of floods, mudslides and breaking dams.
– Jennifer Dales.