Ivan Coyote

Ivan Coyote
Coyote in 2017
Born
Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada
OccupationsWriter and storyteller
Websiteivancoyote.com

Ivan Coyote is a Canadian writer, storyteller, and performer. Coyote has won many accolades for their collections of short stories, novels, and films. They also visit schools to tell stories and give writing workshops.[1] The CBC has called Coyote a "gender-bending author who loves telling stories and performing in front of a live audience."[2] Coyote is non-binary and uses singular they pronouns.[3] Many of Coyote's stories are about gender, identity, and social justice. Coyote resides in Whitehorse, Yukon.

Career

Coyote started performing spoken word in 1992, and their work deals with contemporary issues of family, class gender, identity, and social justice. In 1996, Coyote co-founded the queer performance group Taste This with Anna Camilleri, Zoe Eakle, and Lyndell Montgomery.[4] Taste This was a multi-genre performance group that incorporated live music, poetry, and storytelling. The group disbanded in 2000. In 2001, Coyote briefly taught short fiction at Capilano University in North Vancouver.[5] In 2010, Coyote, Camilleri, and Montgomery regrouped as Swell, and premiered at the 2010 Vancouver Pride in Art Festival.[6]

Coyote joined Arsenal Pulp Press in 2000 and have published 11 books with them.[7][5] Coyote regularly combines storytelling and music and has worked with a number of musicians including Veda Hille, Dan Mangan, and Rae Spoon.[8] Coyote has been a columnist for the LGBTQ+ magazines Xtra! and Xtra! West[9] and regularly contributes to The Georgia Straight and CBC Radio.[10]

Coyote has been writer-in-residence for Carleton University in 2007, Vancouver Public Library in 2009,[11] the University of Winnipeg in 2011,[6][12] and the University of Western Ontario in 2012.[13] They also served on the jury of the 2012 Dayne Ogilvie Prize, a literary award for emerging LGBT writers in Canada, selecting Amber Dawn as that year's winner.[14]

In 2009, their performance You Are Here was scheduled for a cabaret run at Hysteria: A Festival of Women at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, but was cancelled in January of that year.[15]

In 2008, they performed spoken word at Montreal's Edgy Women festival and taught a writing workshop.[16]

In 2012, Coyote and Spoon collaborated on Gender Failure, a touring multimedia show in which they performed music and spoken word pieces about their failed attempts at fitting into the gender binary.[6][17] A book based on the show was published by Arsenal Pulp Press in 2014.[18]

On November 14, 2015, Coyote did a TED talk in Vancouver entitled "We all need a safe place to pee", where they discuss the need to have gender-neutral bathrooms in all public places.[19]

In 2016, they delivered the Florence Bird Lecture at Carleton University. Their lecture was titled "Neither, Nor: How to Circumnavigate the Gender Binary in Seven Thousand Easy Steps".[20]

In 2020, Coyote performed as part of CBC Gem's Queer Pride Inside special.[21]

Writing

Coyote has written thirteen books: one with Press Gang Publishers, one with Penguin Random House, and eleven with Arsenal Pulp Press.[22] Common themes in their work involve identity, gender, community, and class.[23]

Coyote's first book, Boys Like Her (Press Gang Publishers, 1998), was adapted from a live show that was performed by their theater troupe, Taste This.[24]

Close to Spiderman (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2000) and One Man's Trash (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2002) are both collections of stories told by Coyote's grandmother and transcribed by Coyote.[25]

Missed Her (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2010) is another book of compiled short stories. The works were first published in columns with Xtra Vancouver.[26]

One in Every Crowd (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2012) is an anthology of Coyote's work that was put together at the request of high school teachers and librarians who wanted to share Coyote's writing with students. Without more mature parts of their writing, their works could be accepted by school administration and parents. It was specifically composed for queer youth.[6]

Tomboy Survival Guide (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2016) was a Stonewall Book Award Honor Book[27] and was longlisted for the 2017 British Columbia's National Award for Canadian Non-Fiction.[28]

Rebent Sinner (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2019) is a collection of stories and personal essays that was favourably received.[29] Coyote toured in 2019 with musician Sarah MacDougall, performing selections from the book along with music.[30] The book was the inaugural winner of the Jim Deva Prize for Writing that Provokes from the BC and Yukon Book Prizes in 2020.[31]

Care Of (Penguin Random House, 2021) is a collection of communications Coyote has received from audience members and the responses they have written in return.[32]

Reception

Coyote has made significant contributions to the representation of queerness in Canadian literature.[33] Their first collection of short stories, Close to Spider Man, was a finalist for the Danuta Gleed Literary Award for short fiction,[34] and it received widespread acclaim across the Canadian literary critic community for its semi-autobiographical depiction of young, queer women growing up in the Yukon.[33] Their collection The Slow Fix was shortlisted for the Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Fiction in 2008,[35] and their collections One Man's Trash and Loose End received recognition, with outlets such as Herizons and the Lambda Book Report praising the brevity and directness of Coyote's writing as it relates to depictions of the complexities of gender, sexuality, and identity.[33]

Bow Grip, Coyote's only full-length novel, was the winner of the 2007 ReLit Award for Best Novel[36] and was a Stonewall Honor Book,[27] as well as being shortlisted for the Ferro-Grumley Award.[37] Persistence: All Ways Butch and Femme (2011), co-edited with Zena Sharman, was also a Stonewall Honor Book. Their 2016 autobiography Tomboy Survival Guide also garnered numerous accolades, being longlisted for the British Columbia's National Award for Canadian Non-Fiction[28] and being named a 2017 Stonewall Honor Book.[38]

Rebent Sinner (2019) was a finalist for the 2020 Governor General's Award for English-language non-fiction.[39] It also won the Jim Deva Prize for Writing that Provokes.[31]

Bibliography

TitleYear publishedNotes
Boys Like Her1998
Close to Spider Man2000
One Man's Trash2002
Loose End2004
Bow Grip2006
The Slow Fix2008
Missed Her2010
Persistence: All Ways Butch and Femme2011co-edited with Zena Sharman
One in Every Crowd2012
Gender Failure2014co-written with Rae Spoon; based on their 2012 live show
Tomboy Survival Guide2016
Rebent Sinner2019
Care Of2021

References

  1. ↑ "Featured Stories: 2015 Words on Water School Presenter". Campbell River School District. Archived from the original on 2017-03-22. Retrieved 2017-03-21.
  2. ↑ "10 Canadian women you need to read: Ivan E. Coyote". CBC News. Archived from the original on 2017-03-22. Retrieved 2017-03-21.
  3. ↑ Black, Eleanor (August 20, 2016). "Ivan Coyote: 'I always knew I was not the same as other little girls'". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved July 26, 2017.
  4. ↑ Allison, Luna (2010-04-14). "Taste This rekindles project 10 years later". Xtra Magazine. Retrieved 2026-08-23.
  5. 1 2 "Ivan Coyote". TED.com. Retrieved 2017-03-21.
  6. 1 2 3 4 "Queer icons Ivan E. Coyote and Rae Spoon step 'out of the box' for Gender Failure Show". Montreal Gazette. 2012-11-20. Retrieved 2017-03-21.
  7. ↑ "Ivan Coyote". Arsenal Pulp Press. Retrieved 2026-08-23.
  8. ↑ "Book Ivan E. Coyote". The Jeff Turner Entertainment Group. Archived from the original on 2018-10-07. Retrieved 2017-03-23.
  9. ↑ "Arsenal Pulp Press Contributor Info Page". www.arsenalpulp.com. Archived from the original on 2018-08-31. Retrieved 2017-03-23.
  10. ↑ "Ivan Coyote". Les Filles électriques. Retrieved 2026-08-23.
  11. ↑ "Coyote, Ivan E." ABC BookWorld. Retrieved 2026-08-23.
  12. ↑ "Ivan Coyote named U of W's sixth writer-in-residence". Winnipeg Free Press. 2010-11-17. Retrieved 2026-08-23.
  13. ↑ Winders, Jason (June 10, 2020). "University of Western Ontario - Ivan Coyote to bring passion, empathy, engagement to Munro Chair". Education News Canada. Retrieved 2026-08-23.
  14. ↑ "Vancouver's Amber Dawn wins LGBT literary award". CBC News. June 26, 2012. Retrieved 2017-03-21.
  15. ↑ King, Moynan (2011). "Foster Children of Buddies: Queer Women at 12 Alexander". In Levin, Laura (ed.). Theatre and performance in Toronto. Toronto: Playwrights Canada Press.
  16. ↑ "Archives / Edgy Women". Studio 303. Retrieved 2022-07-10.
  17. ↑ BFIFestivals (2013-03-21), Ivan Coyote and Rae Spoon perform Gender Failure, retrieved 2017-03-21
  18. ↑ Gillis, Carla (2014-06-20). "Rae Spoon and Ivan E. Coyote share personal stories in Gender Failure". Quill and Quire. Retrieved 2017-03-23.
  19. ↑ TED (2016-03-18), Why we need gender-neutral bathrooms | Ivan Coyote, retrieved 2017-03-23
  20. ↑ "Past Florence Bird Lectures". Feminist Institute of Social Transformation. Retrieved 2026-08-23.
  21. ↑ Knegt, Peter (June 22, 2020). "This Pride, come inside for a digital queer cabaret unlike anything else". CBC Arts.
  22. ↑ "Ivan Coyote". Penguin Random House. Retrieved 2026-08-23.
  23. ↑ Agu, Julie (2025). "Queering Transmission: A Study of Self-Narrative in Ivan Coyote's Work". Études canadiennes / Canadian Studies. 99: 177–196. doi:10.4000/15g1w. ISSN 0153-1700.
  24. ↑ Giese, Rachel (2004-02-19). "Boys Like Her: Transfictions". Quill and Quire. Retrieved 2017-03-21.
  25. ↑ Parks, Joy (2003-06-01). "Straying from the Gender Pack". Herizons Magazine. Archived from the original on 2017-03-22. Retrieved 2017-03-21.
  26. ↑ Ford, Brooke (February 6, 2011). "Missed Her, by Ivan E. Coyote". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2017-03-21.
  27. 1 2 "Stonewall Book Awards List". ALA Rainbow Roundtable. Retrieved 2026-08-23.
  28. 1 2 BC Achievement Foundation (2016-11-01). "Longlist Announced for BC's National Award for Canadian Non-Fiction, One of Canada's Largest Book Prizes". GlobeNewswire News Room. Retrieved 2026-08-23.
  29. ↑ Grubisic, Brett Josef (November 22, 2019). "Book review: Coyote chews through complexities of everyday life". Vancouver Sun. Retrieved 2019-12-09.
  30. ↑ Datta, Srijani (September 30, 2018). "Renowned Canadian author and storyteller Ivan Coyote begins new position at SFU". The Peak. Retrieved 2019-12-09.
  31. 1 2 "Steven Price, Ivan Coyote and Chantal Gibson among winners of the 2020 BC and Yukon Book Prizes". CBC Books. September 24, 2020.
  32. ↑ "Care Of by Ivan Coyote". Penguin Random House Canada. Retrieved 2021-07-03.
  33. 1 2 3 "Ivan E. Coyote". Gale Literature Resource Centre. 2020. Retrieved 2017-03-23.
  34. ↑ "Close to Spider Man". Arsenal Pulp Press.
  35. ↑ Cerna, Antonio Gonzalez (2010-02-18). "21st Annual Lambda Literary Awards". Lambda Literary. Retrieved 2017-03-21.
  36. ↑ "2015 ReLit Winners". The ReLit Awards. Archived from the original on 2017-02-03. Retrieved 2017-03-21.
  37. ↑ "Bow Grip". Arsenal Pulp Press.
  38. ↑ "2017 Stonewall Book Awards Announced". ALA News and Press Center. 2017-01-24. Retrieved 2017-03-21.
  39. ↑ "The finalists for the 2020 Governor General's Literary Award for nonfiction". CBC. May 4, 2021. Retrieved August 22, 2021.
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