{{Orphan|date=March 2020}}
{{short description|British Columbian Haida traditionalist}} {{Infobox Author | name = {{lang|hai|Kung Jaadee}} (Roberta Kennedy) | native_name = {{lang|hai|Kwii-Ge-Li-Ones}} | birth_place = Haida Gwaii | occupation = Author, drummer | nationality = Haida | genre = Children's literature | children = 1 | website ={{url|https://www.sharkhouse.ca}} }}
'''Kung Jaadee''' (Roberta Kennedy) is a traditional Haida storyteller, singer, drummer, teacher, and children's book author from the village of Old Massett, Haida Gwaii in Northern British Columbia, Canada.
Following Haida tradition, she passed the name {{lang|hai|Kwii-Ge-Ii-Ones}} (Big Loved Cloud) on to her daughter and the name {{lang|hai|Kung Jaadee}} (Woman in the Moon or Moon Woman) was given to her at her great uncle's memorial feast by her cousin.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Watson|first=Bridgette|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/ravens-feast-haida-gwaii-1.3814834|title=Trickster Raven makes a feast and friends in debut book by Haida Gwaii storyteller|date=Oct 23, 2016|work=CBC News|access-date=March 12, 2020}}</ref>
== Storytelling, writing and teaching == Since 1996, Kung Jaadee has been performing her storytelling at festivals, schools, museums, conferences and Indigenous festivals across the United States and Canada.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Hear haida tales|date=Mar 1, 2012|work=Victoria News|issn=0846-4235}}</ref> Kung Jaadee turned to storytelling when her son began attending school as a way to bring awareness to the Haida culture for which she was frequently discriminated against as a child.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.comoxvalleyrecord.com/entertainment/sharing-her-story/|title=Sharing her story|date=2012-06-26|website=Comox Valley Record|language=en-US|access-date=2020-03-16}}</ref> She is best known for her tellings of Raven stories, and was approached by a publisher to turn one of these stories into a book entitled ''Raven's Feast'' illustrated by Jessika von Innerebner and published by Medicine Wheel Education in 2016.<ref name=":0" /> She has a follow-up book, ''Gifts from the Raven'', forthcoming in 2020. She has also contributed to educational books on the Haida Nation, and to academic publications on Indigenous health.
In 2014, she collaborated with Haida artist Gwaii Edenshaw and the Taiyuan Puppet Theatre Company from Taiwan to create a multicultural telling of the Raven story through shadow puppetry. The show was part of the Ouxi Taiwanese Puppetry Festival held at the Museum of Anthropology at UBC.
Kung Jaadee is a primary school teacher at Chief Matthews School in Old Massett and a teacher of Xaad Kil (Haida language).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://artstarts.com/artist-profile/kung-jaadee|title=Artist Profile {{!}} ArtStarts in Schools|website=artstarts.com|access-date=2020-03-12}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.haidagwaiiobserver.com/community/ravens-feast-invites-readers-from-around-the-world/|title=Raven's Feast invites readers from around the world|date=2016-10-15|website=Haida Gwaii Observer|language=en-US|access-date=2020-03-16}}</ref>
== Recognition == Kung Jaadee was a Storyteller-in-Residence at the University of Manitoba in the Centre for Creative Writing and Oral Culture (2010).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.umanitoba.ca/centres/ccwoc/writer_in_residence/CCWOC_WIR.html|title=University of Manitoba - Centre for Creative Writing and Oral Culture - WRITER/STORYTELLER-IN-RESIDENCE|website=www.umanitoba.ca|access-date=2020-03-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200317170448/https://www.umanitoba.ca/centres/ccwoc/writer_in_residence/CCWOC_WIR.html|archive-date=2020-03-17}}</ref> In 2016, she was a Gwaii Haanas artist-in-residence at the Haida Gwaii Museum.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.pc.gc.ca/en/pn-np/bc/gwaiihaanas/activ/decouvertes-tours/artistes-artists/art-2016|title=Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve, National Marine Conservation Area Reserve, and Haida Heritage Site; Programs that Inspire|website=Parks Canada|date=29 November 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171213171047/https://www.pc.gc.ca/en/pn-np/bc/gwaiihaanas/activ/decouvertes-tours/artistes-artists/art-2016|archive-date=2017-12-13}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bcmag.ca/gwaii-haanas-where-art-blooms/|title=Gwaii Haanas: Where Art Blooms|date=2016-06-17|website=British Columbia Magazine|language=en-CA|access-date=2020-03-12}}</ref>
== Publications == '''Children's books'''
*Raven's Feast / Festin du corbeau Kung Jaadee / translated by Veronique Aglat Victoria, British Columbia : Medicine Wheel Education, 2016. Available in an English and French version, with a Xaad Kil/Haida version in preparation.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://medicinewheel.education/|title=Medicine Wheel Education|website=Medicine Wheel Education|language=en-US|access-date=2020-03-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161112131411/https://medicinewheel.education/|archive-date=2016-11-12}}</ref> * Haida Nation Kung Jaadee, in collaboration with Jaskwaan A. Bedard. Collingwood, Ontario : Beech Street Books, 2019. Series:Indigenous Communities in Canada (True North)<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.beechstreetbooks.ca/truenorth|title=True North|website=www.beechstreetbooks.ca|access-date=2020-03-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171024150737/http://www.beechstreetbooks.ca/truenorth|archive-date=2017-10-24}}</ref> * Gifts from Raven Kung Jaadee Victoria, British Columbia : Medicine Wheel Education, 2019. The French version, Les Cadeaux du Corbeau, is to be published by Medicine Wheel Education in September 2020.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://us.orcabook.com/Les-cadeaux-du-corbeau-P12581.aspx|title=Les cadeaux du corbeau|website=us.orcabook.com|access-date=2020-03-10|archive-date=2020-03-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200317170448/https://us.orcabook.com/Les-cadeaux-du-corbeau-P12581.aspx|url-status=dead}}</ref>
'''Chapters in edited volumes'''
*Her piece "Raven Healing" was included in Determinants of indigenous peoples' health : beyond the social / editors, Margo Greenwood, Sarah de Leeuw, Nicole Marie Lindsay.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Determinants of indigenous peoples' health : beyond the social|publisher=Canadian Scholars|year=2018|isbn=9781773380377|editor1-link=Margo Lainne Greenwood|editor-last=Greenwood|editor-first=Margo|location=Toronto|pages=134–142|editor-last2=De Leeuw|editor-first2=Sarah|editor-last3=Lindsay|editor-first3=Nicole Marie}}</ref>
== Appearances ==
* Ouxi Taiwanese Puppetry Festival as part of a cultural exchange.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Derdeyn|first=Stuart|title=Taiwanese puppetry brings a rich tradition to the MOA|date=Nov 5, 2014|work=The Province}}</ref> *Performed during the ''Our Living Languages'' exhibition at the Royal BC Museum.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Our Living Languages, First Peoples' Voices in BC {{!}} Royal BC Museum |url=https://royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/visit/exhibitions/our-living-languages-first-peoples-voices-bc |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160807215745/https://royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/visit/exhibitions/our-living-languages-first-peoples-voices-bc |archive-date=2016-08-07 |access-date=2026-03-17 |website=royalbcmuseum.bc.ca |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/visit/events/calendar/event/106031/haida-storytelling|title=Haida Storytelling|website=Royal BC Museum|access-date=March 12, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190718160801/https://royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/visit/events/calendar/event/106031/haida-storytelling|archive-date=2019-07-18}}</ref> *2017 Toronto Storytelling Festival.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://torontostorytellingfestival.ca/2017/dvteam/kung-jaadee/|title=Kung Jaadee|date=March 2017|website=Toronto Storytelling Festival|access-date=March 12, 2020|archive-date=March 17, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200317170445/http://torontostorytellingfestival.ca/2017/dvteam/kung-jaadee/|url-status=dead}}</ref>
== References == {{reflist}}
== Further reading ==
* [https://www.sharkhouse.ca/ Kung Jaadee's author page]
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Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:Living people Category:Haida people Category:20th-century First Nations writers Category:First Nations women writers Category:20th-century Canadian women writers Category:Canadian storytellers Category:Women storytellers Category:20th-century Canadian educators Category:21st-century Canadian educators Category:Canadian women educators Category:Canadian women drummers Category:21st-century Canadian women writers Category:21st-century First Nations writers Category:Writers from British Columbia Category:20th-century women educators