Susan Aglukark shares her memoir, KIHIANI

Jenna Melanson·September 10, 2025

JUNO Award-Winning Inuk Artist Susan Aglukark Shares Her Story in New Memoir ‘KIHIANI’ (Harper Collins)

HarperCollins Publishers is proud to release KIHIANI by Susan Aglukark with Andrea Warner, out now. This deeply moving memoir from one of Canada’s most celebrated artists traces Aglukark’s journey of healing and self-discovery, weaving together trauma, resilience, and the redemptive power of art. Within moments of it arriving on Amazon, it quickly became a Top 10 on numerous sections, including Composer & Musician Biographies.

Born in Fort Churchill, Manitoba, and raised in Arviat on the western edges of Hudson Bay, Aglukark grew up in a humble but loving home with six siblings. At age eight, while living in Rankin Inlet, her life was disrupted by a profound event that created a lasting inner schism. Writing poetry at fifteen became a lifeline, and eventually music carried her into a career that would reshape Canadian arts and culture. From her early feature on a CBC Arctic artists compilation to signing with a major label for her third album This Child, Aglukark has consistently transformed personal struggle into anthems of hope.

KIHIANI captures both the disruption and the milestones, the devastation and the healing, that define Aglukark’s life and career. It is her profoundly honest story of navigating pain, reclaiming identity, and finding strength through song.

Susan Aglukark is a four-time Juno Award–winning Inuk singer-songwriter and the first Inuk artist to ever win a Juno. She is an Officer of the Order of Canada, a recipient of the Governor General’s Performing Arts Award for lifetime artistic achievement, and holds several honorary doctorates. Aglukark’s legacy includes beloved songs like “This Child” and “O Siem,” as well as a lifetime dedicated to bridging cultures through art.

KIHIANI is co-written with Andrea Warner, author, critic, and broadcaster known for her insightful work on music, culture, and identity.

Get the book: Amazon OR Indigo.

In tandem with the memoir, Aglukark will mark another career milestone this summer with the 30th anniversary vinyl release of her breakthrough album This Child out now. Remastered from the original source tapes and pressed to vinyl for the very first time, the record features the landmark single “O Siem,” which reached #1 on the Canadian adult contemporary and country charts in 1995, making Aglukark the first Inuk performer to have a Top 40 hit. Additional hits “Hina Na Ho (Celebration)” and “Breakin’ Down” further cemented This Child as a cornerstone of Canadian music, with the album ultimately certified triple platinum (300,000 copies sold).

Reflecting on the album’s title track, Aglukark explains:

“This Child was my artist statement, my call to personal action. At the time, I was writing from a life of deep alone-ness. Leaving home felt like disconnecting from something critical—the land-based way of connection that is the Inuit way. The song was a message to my future artist and Inuk self: write who you are so you never forget where you come from, who you are, and why you left.”