Mariah MacDonald
November 19th, 2025
Mariah MacDonald, who writes under the name La Sän Mą, is a debut poet and a member of the Champagne and Aishihik First Nation from the Yukon, belonging to the Wolf Clan. MacDonald was raised in Haines Junction, Yukon. She lived in Haines Junction and Whitehorse before moving to Vancouver at the age of twenty-one. La Sän Mą’s first published work is the poetry collection, Spruce to Cedar (Brick Books $23.95), is described as gently disarming, exploring themes of healing despite the constraints of living in a colonial society. The poems follow a young woman’s journey from childhood into adulthood, charting her experiences in the Yukon, Northwest Territories and Vancouver. The speaker finds healing in isolation and discovers identity through culture and solitude. The work is noted for its linguistic blend, using English, Southern Tutchone and Dene. The speaker is portrayed as fragile yet courageous, openly confronting the difficulties of the past while looking toward the future, unashamedly “baring it all”. 9781771316705
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