Bad Banana

Wayne Arthurson is writer-in-residence at the University of Alberta until May 31, 2024. “Just find your own path for writing and do it your own way and if that works for you, then that works for you.” —author Wayne Arthurson   By Shari Narine Local Journalism Initiative Reporter Windspeaker.com | October 19th, 2023  The writer-in-residence at the University of Alberta believes the publishing industry is changing for Indigenous writers. “I think it's growing,” said Wayne Arthurson, who is of Cree and French-Canadian descent. “It used to be, maybe even 10 years ago, they have the one or two big name Indigenous writers … and a lot of publishers didn't look outside that… But now I think it's much more open because there's a lot of Indigenous writers who are having books out there that are successful.” Arthurson has been writing for more than 30 years. Final Season , his first of eigh...

  Journalist Brandi Morin tells her own difficult stories in debut memoir Brandi Morin opens her debut memoir, Our Voice of Fire: A Memoir of a Warrior Rising, with her visit, along with a New York Times reporter and photographer, to the home of Tina Fontaine’s great-aunt Thelma Favel for a piece on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG). Tina Fontaine was the 15-year-old Sagkeeng First Nations girl whose body was found in Winnipeg’s Red River in 2014, and her murder ignited the MMIWG movement. Sitting in the girl’s great-aunt’s home, Morin realized that she herself could have easily gone missing and been murdered. Morin, a French/Cree/Iroquois journalist from Treaty 6 territory in Alberta, has made a name for herself in journalism, with stories for Al Jazeera , National Geographic , Aboriginal People...

A Magical Sturgeon Illustrator Elinor Atkins, Author Joseph Dandurand Nightwood Editions ISBN: 9780889713901 [Paperback / softback | 7 in x 8.5 in - 32 pp] 2022   Written and illustrated in the tradition of the Kwantlen people, Joseph Dandurand's second book A MAGICAL STURGEON is an endearing tale of two sisters and their connection with nature. In the water sat a sturgeon, born there, so they say, thousands of years ago, though the sturgeon themselves have been here for two hundred million years. It was at first a little egg, a big egg, born into the river. Now the sturgeon is back but how did it get here? How did the first sturgeon come to be? Earth and the river, moons and suns and clouds. Time, thousands of years and the Skwó:wech has seen it all. But what gift does the sturgeon have for us? So begins this second charming story for children by Kwantlen storyteller Joseph Dandurand. The sturgeon,...

Permanent Astonishment  by Tomson Highway Permanent Astonishment is a book by Tomson Highway. (Doubleday Canada, Sean Howard) Permanent Astonishment  is a memoir by acclaimed writer Tomson Highway. Highway was born the 11th of 12 children in a nomadic caribou-hunting Cree family. Surrounded by the love of his family and the vast landscape of his home, he lived an idyllic far-north childhood. But five of his siblings died in childhood, and his parents wanted their two youngest sons, Tomson and Rene, to get big opportunities. This memoir offers insight into the Cree experience of culture, conquest and survival. Permanent Astonishment   won the 2021 Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction . Tomson Highway's memoir, Permanent Astonishment , is written as 'a symphony to life' Highway is a Cree novelist, children's author, playwright and musician. Born in Manitoba, he is a member of the Barren Lands First Nation. His work includes Canadian ...

  Make this holiday special with Indigenous books and GIFTS! WHERE TO SHOP? Strong Nations online Authors: ● Neal McLeod ( Indigenous Canadian ; First Nations ; Cree (Nehiyawak) ;) ● Arok Wolvengrey Format: Paperback   Text Content Territories: Indigenous Canadian ; First Nations ; Cree (Nehiyawak) ;   Grade Levels: 8 ; 9 ; 10 ; 11 ; 12 ; University/College ; Synopsis: As an Elder once said, "Learn one Cree word a day for 100 days, and emerge a different person." In  100 Days of Cree , Neal McLeod offers us a portal into another way of understanding the universe--and our place within it--while demonstrating why this funny, vibrant, and sometimes salacious language is "the sexiest of them all" (according to Tomson Highway). Based on a series of Facebook posts, the 100 short chapters or "...

HER WEBSITE Cherie Dimaline's 2017 book, The Marrow Thieves was declared by TIME magazine, one of the Best YA Books of All Time. This international bestseller has won the Governor General’s Award and the prestigious Kirkus Prize for Young Readers, and was named a Book of the Year on numerous lists including the National Public Radio, the School Library Journal, the New York Public Library, the Globe and Mail, and the CBC.    Her newest novel  Empire of Wild   (Random House Canada, William Morrow US, Weiden and Nicolson UK) became an instant Canadian bestseller and was named Indigo's #1 Best Book of 2019. It was featured in The New York Times, the New Yorker, GOOP, and the Chicago Review of Books among others. Cherie spent many years working in and for Indigenous communities and now lives in her home territory where she is a registered and active member of the Georgian Bay Metis Community.  She is currently writing for television, work...

 Watching Star Wars led Jesse Wente on a journey in search of Indigenous identity, truth and joy 'The reason I want Indigenous joy to be seen is because we're more than our tragedies...we're fully human' CBC Radio ·  September 17 Jesse Wente is a First Nations Canadian arts journalist and chairperson of the Canada Council for the Arts. (Red Works 2021) 20:49 Jesse Wente on Unreconciled: Family, Truth, and Indigenous Resistance Jesse Wente is an Anishinaabe writer, broadcaster and arts leader. He's best known for the more than two decades he's spent as a columnist for CBC Radio's   Metro Morning . He has also worked at the Toronto International Film Festival. In 2018, he was named the first executive director of the Indigenous Screen Office and in January of 2020, he was appointed chair of the Canada Council for the Arts. When he was just three years old, Wente fell in love with the 1977 epic space-opera film  Star Wars . He remembers it fondly be...

  All the Quiet Places by Brian Thomas Isaac All the Quiet Places is a novel by Brian Thomas Isaac. (Touchwood Editions) In All the Quiet Places , it's 1956 and young Eddie Toma lives on the far edge of the Okanagan Indian Reserve with his mother and little brother. In the summer, he tags along with his mother, his nephew and her friends to farm in Washington state. After tragedy strikes, Eddie comes home grief-stricken, confused and lonely. As he grows up, his life is governed by the decisions of the adults around him. And every time things start to look up, circumstances beyond his control crash down around him — and the effects of guilt, grief and despair keep piling up, threatening everything Eddie has ever known or loved. When you can read it: Oct. 12, 2021 Brian Thomas Isaac was born on the Okanagan Indian Reserve, in south central B.C. He's worked in oil fields, as a bricklayer, and he had a short career riding bulls in local rodeos. As a...

  The Strangers by Katherena Vermette The Strangers is a novel by Katherena Vermette. (Vanda Fleury, Hamish Hamilton) In The Strangers , readers are brought into the dynamic world of the Stranger family, the shared pain of their past and the light that shines from the horizon. After spending time in foster homes, Cedar goes to live with her estranged father. Being separated from her mother, Elsie, and her sister, Phoenix, is painful, but she's hoping for a new chapter in life. The three women diverge, reconnect, and fight to survive in a system that expects them to fail. When you can read it: Sept. 28, 2021 Read an excerpt and see the cover of Katherena Vermette's upcoming novel The Strangers Katherena Vermette is a Red River Métis writer from Winnipeg. Her debut poetry collection, North End Love Songs , won the 2013 Governor General's Literary Award for Poetry. Her first novel, The Break , won the Amazon First Novel Award, Margaret Laurence Award for F...

  Manikanetish by Naomi Fontaine Manikanetish is a book by Naomi Fontaine. (Kizzy E. Steve, House of Anansi Press) In  Manikanetish , a young Innu woman, Yammie, returns to her home in the Uashat nation on Quebec's North Shore after 15 years of exile. She plans to teach language and drama at the community's school, but finds a community stalked by despair. When she accepts a position directing the school play, she sees an opportunity for her students to take charge of themselves.  When you can read it: Sept. 28, 2021 Naomi Fontaine is a member of the Innu Nation of Uashat. Her debut novel, Kuessipan , was made into a film that was featured at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival. The French language edition of Manikanetish was a finalist for the Governor General's Literary Awards and Radio Canada's Combat des livres 2019 .

The Prairie Chicken Dance Tour by Dawn Dumont The Prairie Chicken Dance Tour is a novel by Dawn Dumont. (Thistledown Press, Freehand Books) The Prairie Chicken Dance Tour  is about the trials and tribulations of a touring dance group. Right before a 15-day tour through Europe, all the performers in The Prairie Chicken dance troupe come down with the flu. So, John Greyeyes, a retired cowboy who hasn't danced in 15 years, is thrust into leading a hastily assembled group of replacement dancers. As the gaggle of amateur dancers make its way from one stop to another, nothing goes as planned and the tour becomes a string of madcap adventures.  When you can read it: Sept. 27, 2021 Dawn Dumont writes about the ups and downs of the modern Indigenous experience Dawn Dumont is a Plains Cree writer, comedian and actor who lives in Saskatoon. She is the author of Rose's Run , Glass Beads , and Nobody Cries at Bingo , which was shortlisted for the 2012 Alberta...

  Probably Ruby by Lisa Bird-Wilson Probably Ruby is a novel by Lisa Bird-Wilson. (CBC Books, Doubleday Canada) In Probably Ruby , Ruby is placed in a foster home shortly after birth. She is finally adopted by Alice and Mel, a less-than-desirable couple who can't afford to complain too much about Ruby's Indigenous roots. After her new parents' marriage falls apart, Ruby ends up in vulnerable and compromising situations — self-destructing on alcohol, drugs and bad relationships — that lead her to search for her Indigenous identity in the unlikeliest of places. When you can read it: Aug. 24, 2021 Lisa Bird-Wilson on the role of art in reconciliation Lisa Bird-Wilson is a Saskatchewan Métis and nêhiyaw writer whose book Just Pretending won four Saskatchewan Book Awards. She's also the author of the poetry collection The Red Files .

  Return of the Trickster is a novel by Eden Robinson. (Knopf Canada, Red Works Photography) Return of the Trickster is the third book in celebrated writer Eden Robinson's Trickster trilogy, after Son of a Trickster and Trickster Drift . In Return of the Trickster , Jared is coming to terms with his trickster powers — and with the havoc they create for him and everyone he loves. His mom, Maggie, is coming to terms with them as well. But when his power-hungry Aunt Georgina comes to town, it's the beginning of a magical war — with Jared in the middle of it all. When you can read it: March 2, 2021 Why it took Eden Robinson eight years to write Son of a Trickster Robinson is an award-winning writer from Kitamaat, B.C. She is also the author of the novels Monkey Beach , Son of a Trickster and Trickster Drift . Return of the Trickster completes the Trickster trilogy. Son of a Trickster was a finalist for the Scotiabank Giller Prize and was championed on Canada ...

  From Indigenous feminism to the real story of Thanksgiving to a de-colonialist take on Star Trek, these podcasts show how the issues facing Native people affect all Americans. The Cuts With Sterlin Harjo Filmmaker Sterlin Harjo’s podcast, in which he conducts comfortable, intimate conversations with guests including Academy Award–winning director Taika Waititi and U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo, was one of Matika Wilbur’s inspirations for starting All My Relations. “[ The Cuts ] was the first Native podcast I ever found,” Wilbur said. “I would play the episodes on repeat because sometimes as I was traveling for Project 562 , I’d be alone in spaces like an airport or on a long road where I’d feel like I was the only Native person in the room, and it just brought me so much comfort.” Listen: “ Shan Goshorn: The Only and Only ” Support The Cuts With Sterlin Harjo (Indian and Cowboy Media Network)   GREAT READ: Seven Essential Listens From the Indigenous Podcasting Boom...