Split Tooth

An Inuk girl grows up in the Artic in the 1970s. In this acclaimed debut novel - haunting, exhilarating, and tender all at once - Tagaq explores a gritty small town and the electrifying proximity of the worlds of animals and of myth.

‘Tagaq’s surreal meld of poetry and prose transmutes the Arctic’s boundless beauty, intensity, and desolation into a wrenching contemporary mythology.’ The New Yorker

‘Though the protagonist’s coming-of-age story, generously and lovingly documented by Tagaq, is the anchor, Split Tooth is not a book that can be fully absorbed in one sitting. It’s possible to sink deeper and deeper into the narrative with each successive reading. Like a smirking teenager, Split Tooth blithely gives typical literary expectations the finger, daring us to see and experience narrative as chaotic, emotional, and deeply instinctive. And it succeeds.’ Quill and Quire

‘A raw, powerful voice breathes fresh air into traditional Inuit folklore to create a modern tale of mythological proportions.’ Kirkus

‘ Split Tooth straddles the line between memoir and fiction, prose and poetry, magic and harsh reality. . . and is infused with Tagaq's intimate knowledge of life in the Arctic.’ Oprah Magazine

‘A forceful coming-of-age tale.’ Toronto Life magazine

‘In simplest terms, Split Tooth is a punch to the throat . . . a stellar first novel; an incredible work of Canadian, indigenous, and world literatures.’ PopMatters

‘Tagaq has broken a new trail for all future Inuit writers to tread upon, describing the lived world of an Inuk child with writing that is breathtaking and singular . . . With this work Tagaq has reshaped what Inuit literature is . . . it is impossible to stop reading. It is delicious. And offers a new way forward for Inuit authors.’ Inuit Art Quarterly

From Ikaluktutiak (Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, Canada), internationally celebrated artist Tanya Tagaq is an improvisational throat singer, avant-garde composer and bestselling author. A member of the Order of Canada, winner of the Polaris Music Prize (a Canadian equivalent to the Mercury Music Prize), Tagaq is an original disruptor, a world-changing figure at the forefront of seismic social, political and environmental change.