Author, researcher, and professor born in Québec in 1959.
Norma Dunning, also known as Norma Jean Marie Dunning, was born in Québec in 1959 to an Inuit family. Her mother was originally from Whale Cove (Inuktitut: Tikiraqjuaq) a hamlet located close to Rankin Inlet (now Kangiqtiniq), in the Kivalliq region of present-day Nunavut. Norma Dunning's father was a member of the Canadian Armed Forces, and the family relocated often according to his various postings. Four of Norma Dunning's siblings were born in Churchill, Manitoba, and she and her siblings grew up in several towns across Canada, often in remote areas. In her youth, Norma Dunning read and wrote both poetry and stories; writing was an essential part of her life. As a young adult, she started a family. It was only later, when her son enrolled in college, that she decided to pursue a university education.
In 2009, at the age of fifty, Norma Dunning enrolled at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, where she completed all her studies. Her journey allowed her to focus on both of her areas of interest: academic research in Native Studies and in education on the one hand, and creative writing on the other. In 2012, she obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Native Studies. In 2014, she completed a Master's thesis in Native Studies dedicated to the Inuit perspective on the Canadian Eskimo Identification system, a registration system imposed on Inuit in Canada from 1941 to 1978. This essay has then been published as a book in 2022, under the title Kinauvit?: What’s Your Name? The Eskimo Disc System and a Daughter’s Search for her Grandmother. The book was shortlisted for the Shaughnessy Cohen Political Pen award in 2023. After her Master’s thesis, Norma Dunning then began her doctoral studies; her dissertation focuses on the funding stream made available to Inuit students who are members of a land claims agreement but do not reside in their land claims area. Since 2012, she has taught at the University of Alberta, Norquest College and Red Deer Polytechnic. She is currently with the Faculty of Indigenous Studies at the First Nations University of Canada in Regina.
During her undergraduate studies, Norma Dunning completed a minor in Creative Writing. In 2012, she was awarded the Stephen Kapalka Memorial Prize for Creative Prose. Poetry allows her to preserve her community’s stories and maintain their personal nature. In 2017, Norma Dunning published Annie Muktuk and Other Stories, a collection of stories that blends the contemporary realities of Inuit societies and the memory of Inuit cosmology. The book was translated into French and published by Mémoire d’encrier under the title Annie Muktuk et autres histoires (2021). In 2020, Norma Dunning published Eskimo Pie: A Poetics of Inuit Identity, in which she analyzes how she finds it challenging to write without betraying her community and oral culture or bowing to criticism. The title Eskimo Pie refers to a stereotype targeting Inuit people, but also to two of Norma Dunning’s poems, in which she puts forward a modern vision of her culture and community. The book has been translated in French and Greek. There have been several public readings of Norma Dunning's poetry at festivals. She has also published several articles in which she reflects on her poetic practice, and her poems have been published in online periodicals and blogs. Her interest in creative writing has led her to read, analyze, and promote the works of other Inuit authors. In 2015, she published a review of the English edition of Sanaaq (2014) by Mitiarjuk Nappaaluk; she also contributed to the production of the new 2019 edition of My Life Among the Qallunaat (1978) by Minnie Aodla Freeman.
As vice-president of the Inuit Edmontonmiut Society (now Inuit Edmontonmiut Working Group), Norma Dunning took a public stance against racist stereotypes targeting Inuit people. She was outspoken about the need to change the name of a local football team, the Edmonton Eskimos. The team’s name was changed to the Edmonton Elks in 2021.
Today, Norma Dunning is the mother of three sons and a grandmother of six. Since 2018, she has been splitting her time between professional life and creative writing. Her recent publications include a new collection of short stories, Tainna: The Unseen Ones, Short Stories (2021), translated into French under the title Tainna : celles et ceux qu’on ne voit pas, and Akia (2022), translated in French and in Greek.