Naoyak: A Novel

By turns funny, biting, tender, fantastical and spiritually charged, Naoyak is a blend of social satire and a loving ode to Inuit women and mothers.

Naoyak Aupak promised herself she would leave Iqaluit for “The Easy Life” in Canada’s south before she turned twenty-five. Her exit plan sends her and her young son Andy on a chaotic journey with a painfully clueless southern researcher named Drew. As Nao wedges herself and Andy into the bougie comforts of Drew’s home in Sherwood Park, Alberta, she must reckon with a world of class assumptions, casual racism and paternalism. But Naoyak is not containable. She is a trickster, a champion of her people and an irresistible agent of change. Bold, brave and relentlessly resourceful, she refuses to shrink herself to fit anyone else’s expectations—southern, institutional or otherwise.

Norma Dunning has crafted a vibrant character study that challenges power dynamics and stereotypes, questioning the disproportionate influence men often hold in the lives of minority women while exploring the issues that arise when research involving Indigenous communities is carried out by non-Indigenous outsiders. Interspersed by appearances from Kiviuk, the giant guardian who has watched over generations of Aupak women, and the spirit of Granny, Nao’s raucous anaanatsiaq who nags Nao to get her act together, the novel and its beautiful, audacious protagonist probe modern life’s fabulism without ever losing a sliver of mystique or charm.

“Invoking the eternal Kiviuk, Norma Dunning’s Naoyak is a lighthearted romp powered by a restless dreamer intent on becoming somebody for her son—on her own unapologetic terms. From Iqaluit to Edmonton and back, the journey unfolds with sly, satirical wit—bold, mocking, and gleefully unsparing in a voice only Dunning could deliver.”

“Naoyak is a wonder! Hilariously determined to make a good life for her son, this young Inuk woman bursts from the pages of Norma Dunning’s first novel in a way you’ll never forget. When she decides it’s time to leave Iqaluit and head to southern parts of Canada, she’s unstoppable as a hurricane—with a little help from the spirit world. I haven’t laughed like this while reading a book in a long time.”

“Naoyak throws the reader straight into an experience that I can guarantee you’ve never read about before. The contemporary Inuit world that Dunning evokes with evocative language echoes from the frozen tundra to the prairie cities.”