Overcome

Stories of Women Who Grew Up In The Child Welfare System

By Anne Mahon

0-3

SOCIAL SCIENCE

224 Pages, 7 x 7

Formats: Trade Paper, EPUB

Trade Paper, $21.95 (US $21.95)

Publication Date: October 2022

ISBN 9781773370835

Rights: WOR X CA

Great Plains Press (Oct 2022)

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Price:	$21.95

Overview

Finalist, Alexander Kennedy Isbister Award for Non-Fiction

Finalist, Mary Scorer Award for Best Book by a Manitoba Publisher

With a foreword by Beatrice Mosionier.

Abandonment, loss, endless transitions, self-reliance, continued persistence, and fierce beauty all coexist in this compelling collection of stories of ten women who journey from victims of the child welfare system to survivors, and beyond. These women face endless challenges, oppression, and trauma but discover their power through creativity, self-awareness, education, motherhood, and extreme empathy.

They decipher their personal stories looking back through the lens of their lived experience to contribute to changing the narratives of how people who grew up in in the child welfare system see themselves, and how society sees them. These stories create compassion and understanding, breaking down biases.

They also illustrate the direct and multi-faceted relationships between residential schools, the breakdown of Indigenous families, the perpetuated system racism of of the child welfare system and oppression through other societal systems. Many of these women are the voices of those who could have been murdered and missing Indigenous women and girls but have lived to tell their stories. Embracing their humanity, their courageous sharing teaches and informs us. These heartbreaking and inspiring stories will educate and create change.

Reviews

"This collection of 10 women’s stories is not an easy read, but it is a necessary one." —Winnipeg Free Press

Select praise for The Lucky Ones: WINNER – On The Same Page Manitoba selection, 2013-14:

“The book’s shocking first-hand accounts of survival will cause readers to bristle the next time they hear someone cast refugees as 'fraudsters' or 'just someone here to take our jobs.' And reading about parents who were forced to run for the border without their children – let alone their passports – will cause people to question the government’s dismissive terminology of bogus and illegal refugees.” —The Catalyst, Citizens for Public Justice Publication

“Anne Mahon faithfully captures refugees’ voices with raw authenticity, imprinting their lives onto our collective memory. Their stories of love, loss, war, and grace capture the dogged human drive to metabolize pain into power for good.” —Lisa Shannon, author of A Thousand Sisters and founder of Run for Congolese Women

Author Biography

Anne Mahon is interested in people, their stories and making meaningful connections. She is chancellor of the University of Manitoba, and a committed life-long volunteer. Her three books all focus on marginalized communities where biases are being broken. The books are philanthropic endeavours with all author proceeds donated to an organization that supports the community each book represents. Her first book The Lucky Ones won the On the Same Page Manitoba Library Award. Anne was nominated for the John Hirsch Award for Most Promising Manitoba Writer. She had the honour of interviewing Michelle Obama in 2019.

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