Biographies

Emma LaRocque was born in 1949 in Lac La Biche into a Cree-speaking Métis family. She grew up in a one-room, kerosene-lit log cabin built by her father. At the age of nine, she fought her parents to attend school, where she encountered English and the colonizer’s harmful stereotypes of Indigenous peoples. Confronting the contradictions of colonialism sparked her journey as a writer and scholar, as she sought to understand the dissonance between her identity and the world around her.

The Emma LaRocque Reader is a comprehensive collection of her most significant writings, poetry and prose, offering an intimate window into the mind of one of Canada’s foremost Indigenous scholars. Through her work, LaRocque provides profound insights into the intersections of colonialism, sexism, and racism in Canada, while also critically celebrating the beauty of her community and culture. In the afterword, she reflects on fifty years of challenging the colonial enterprise. A vital contribution to postcolonial literature, The Emma LaRocque Reader intertwines the personal and the political to explore what it means to be human, offering a powerful testament to Indigenous resistance, resilience, and vision.

This collection brings together the works of Métis scholar Emma LaRocque, offering a half-century of her poetry and prose, and shedding new light on Canada, colonialism, and Indigenous resistance.

Educator Information
Chapters
Foreword by Armand Ruffo
Preface by Elaine Coburn
Acknowledgments by Emma LaRocque
Acknowledgments of Permissions to Reprint
Introduction by Elaine Coburn
1975 A Personal Essay on Poverty (Excerpt from Defeathering the Indian)
1983 The Métis in English Canadian Literature
1988 On the Ethics of Publishing Historical Documents
1989 Racism Runs through Canadian Society
1990 Preface: Here Are Our Voices: Who Will Hear?
1990 Geese (poem)
1990 Nostalgia (poem)
1990 “Progress” (poem)
1990 The Red in Winter (poem)
1990 Incongruence (poem)
1990 Loneliness (poem)
1990 Beggar (poem)
1990 Tides, Towns, and Trains
1992 My Hometown, Northern Canada, South Africa (poem)
1993 Violence in Aboriginal Communities
1994 Long Way from Home (poem)
1996 The Colonization of a Native Woman Scholar
1996 When the Other Is Me: Native Writers Confronting Canadian Literature
2001 Native Identity and the Métis: Otehpayimsuak Peoples
2001 From the Land to the Classroom
2004 When the Wild West Is Me
2006 Sweeping (poem)
2006 Sources of Inspiration: The Birth of "For the Love of Words": Aboriginal Writers of Canada
2007 Métis and Feminist
2009 Reflections on Cultural Continuity through Aboriginal Women’s Writings
2010 Native Writers Reconstruct: Pushing Paradigms
2013 For the Love of Place – Not Just Any Place: Selected Métis Writings
2015 “Resist No Longer”: Reflections on Resistance Writing and Teaching
2016 Contemporary Métis Literature: Resistance, Roots, Innovation
2016 Colonialism Lived
2017 Powerlines (poem)
2022 Wehsakehcha, Comics, Shakespeare, and the Dictionary
2023 Afterword
Index

Additional Information
348 pages | 6.00" x 9.00" | Paperback

A vital account of the life and many names of Robert Cree, and his plan for a peaceful, sincere, and just path to reconciliation in an angry and chaotic world.

His mother called him “Bobby Mountain.” Elders called him “Great Man.” His people called him “Chief.” Oil men called him “Mr. Cree.” But the government called him “Number 53.” Robert Cree was all of these while facing his people’s oppressors and freeing the ghosts of tortured spirits.

The Many Names of Robert Cree is his first-person account of survival in a brutally racist residential school system designed to erase traditional Indigenous culture, language, and knowledge. It is also the story of an epic life of struggle and healing, as Cree takes the wisdom of his ancestors and a message of reconciliation to the halls of government and to industry boardrooms.

In the storytelling tradition of his people, Cree recounts his early years in the bush, his captivity at a residential school, his struggles with addiction, his political awakening as one of Canada’s youngest First Nation Chiefs, and the rising Indigenous activism of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. He also recounts the oil industry’s arrival on his poverty-stricken reserve and the ensuing struggle to balance economic opportunity with environmental challenges.

Throughout, Cree’s leadership is rooted in his unshakable commitment to the sacred traditional teachings of his people. His beliefs give him the strength to focus on hope, dignity, and building a better future for his community. Now a respected Elder and spiritual leader, Cree champions forgiveness as a powerful force that can bring healing and transformation for all.

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264 pages | 6" x 9" | Paperback 

The pelt of a dog named “Mutton” languished in a drawer at the Smithsonian for 150 years until it was discovered, almost accidentally, by an amateur archivist. This book tells Mutton's story and explores what it can teach us about Coast Salish Woolly Dogs and their cultural significance.

Until now, there has been very little written about the enigmatic Coast Salish Woolly Dog, or sqʷəmey̓ in the Hul'q'umi'num language. According to Indigenous Oral Histories of the Pacific Northwest, this small dog was bred for thousands of years for its woolly fibres, which were woven into traditional blankets, robes and regalia. Although the dogs were carefully protected by Coast Salish peoples, by the 1900s, the Woolly Dog had become so rare it is now considered extinct.

Co-authored with weavers, Knowledge Keepers, and Elders, The Teachings of Mutton interweaves perspectives from Musqueam, Squamish, Stó:lō, Suquamish, Cowichan, Katzie, Snuneymuxw, and Skokomish cultures with narratives of science, post-contact history, and the lasting and devastating impacts of colonization. Binding it all together is Mutton's story—a tale of research, reawakening, and resurgence.

Reviews
“What a compelling story, reflecting a way of life, practical knowledge, artistry and change in the Pacific Northwest! Mutton, the domesticated woolly dog, represents so much more than a museum collection or a source of weaving material. Generations of breeding, learning and sharing, caring and trading are mirrored in the discovery of his pelt in a drawer at the Smithsonian. Liz Hammond-Kaarremaa and her respected Salishan co-authors and Knowledge Keepers have brought Mutton into the present, and in doing so, have given us a new and unique perspective on the complex history of this region and on the meaning of Truth and Reconciliation. The book is clearly and thoughtfully written, and supplemented with excellent illustrations. It is a ‘must read’ for anyone wishing to know more about weaving arts, dog breeds, Indigenous cultures and/or history in northwestern North America.” — Nancy J. Turner, Distinguished Professor Emerita, University of Victoria

“Conscientious and accessible, The Teachings of Mutton weaves a charming and informative history, walking through the discovery of his pelt in a museum drawer to the modern science that reveals the shape of this dog’s life. Highlighting and correcting generations of non-Indigenous misinterpretation, the intertwined histories provided by Salish knowledge keepers reveal the nuanced Indigenous sciences of dog husbandry, spinning, weaving, and the cultural significance of Woolly Dogs while telling a lively story.” — Kathryn Bunn-Marcuse, PhD, curator of Northwest Native art and director of the Bill Holm Center for

Additional Information
264 pages | 8.00" x 10.00"

A moving multigenerational memoir of Indigenous resistance, environmental justice, and a Yurok family's fight to protect their legacy and the Klamath River.

For the members of a Northern California tribe, salmon are the lifeblood of the people—a vital source of food, income, and cultural identity. When a catastrophic fish kill devastates the river, Amy Bowers Cordalis is propelled into action, reigniting her family's 170-year battle against the U.S. government.

In a moving and engrossing blend of memoir and history, Cordalis propels readers through generations of her family’s struggle, where she learns that the fight for survival is not only about fishing—it’s about protecting a way of life and the right of a species and river to exist. Her great-uncle's landmark Supreme Court case reaffirming her Nation’s rights to land, water, fish, and sovereignty, her great-grandmother’s defiant resistance during the Salmon Wars, and her family's ongoing battles against government overreach shape the deep commitment to justice that drives Cordalis forward.

When the source of the fish kill is revealed, Cordalis steps up as General Counsel for the Yurok Tribe to hold powerful corporate interests accountable, and to spearhead the largest river restoration project in history. The Water Remembers is a testament to the enduring power of Indigenous knowledge, family legacy, and the determination to ensure that future generations remember what it means to live in balance with the earth.

Reviews
"A powerful interweaving of memory, history, and activism, The Water Remembers is a lyrical and uncompromising account of Amy Bowers Cordalis’s fight to protect the Klamath River and the sovereignty of the Yurok Nation. Told through a Yurok storytelling lens, this book traverses ancestral knowledge, ecological devastation, and legal resistance, revealing the sacred bond between people and river. Bowers Cordalis, an attorney and lifelong fisherwoman, writes with the clarity of lived experience and the heart of a riverkeeper. This is a vital work of Indigenous resurgence and environmental justice, brimming with spirit, truth, and unstoppable resolve."—Terese Marie Mailhot, author of Heart Berries

"The Water Remembers is a powerful, poetic testament to Indigenous resilience and reverence for the natural world. Amy Bowers Cordalis weaves history, activism, and sacred connection into a compelling narrative of communities fighting to protect what is most vital. This book is not just a call to action; it’s a song of survival and restoration."—Leah Thomas, environmental educator and author of The Intersectional Environmentalist

Additional Information
288 pages | 6.00" x 9.25" | Hardcover 

A stunning debut work of narrative nonfiction from one of the most powerful Indigenous story-tellers at work in Canada today, We Survived the Night combines investigative journalism, colonial history, Salish Coyote stories and a deeply personal father-son journey in a searing yet uplifting portrait of contemporary Indigenous life.

Born to a charismatic Sécwepemc artist from a tiny reserve in the interior of B.C. and a Jewish-Irish woman from Westchester County, N.Y., Julian Brave NoiseCat grew up in a swirl of contradictions. He was the spitting image of his dad, but was raised mostly by his white mother in the urban Native community of Oakland, CA. He became a competitive powwow dancer, travelling the North American circuit, but despite being embraced by his family, he felt like an outsider when he spent time on his home reserve—drawn to his father's world, his Indigenous heritage and identity, but struggling to make sense of his place in it. Struggling also to make sense of the swirling damage his alcoholic father—who could turn into "a brawling Indian super vigilante in the mould of Billy Jack" out to kick colonialism in the ass—had caused to those he loved.

So in his twenties, NoiseCat set out to uncover and tell the story of his father, of his Coyote People—the Interior Salish nations almost extirpated by the apocalyptic horsemen of colonialism—which soon rippled out, in five years of on-the-ground reporting, into the stories of other First Peoples in the United States and Canada, as NoiseCat attempted to counter the erasure, invisibility and misconceptions surrounding them. We Survived the Night paints a profound, inspiring and unforgettable portrait of Indigenous life, entwined with a deeply powerful reckoning between a father and a son seeking a path to a future full of possibilities—for himself and all the children of Indian Country.

Reviews
“Written in gorgeous, sparse prose, We Survived the Night reads like a novel. Told with a blistering honesty, the truth and grit create a beautifully woven coyote story we haven’t heard before. This is a love letter to Oakland, to the Canim Lake Band Tsq'secen of the Secwepemc Nation, to a father from his son, to the act of being a Native person in the twenty-first century finding ways to love even through all that wounds have opened and wrought. With this, Julian Brave NoiseCat has written a book I’ve been waiting my whole life to read.” —Tommy Orange, author of Wandering Stars

“Thoughtful, informative, often entertaining and just as often saddening, NoiseCat’s is a book to remember.” —Kirkus Reviews

“This book grabs your heart and doesn't let go. Julian Brave NoiseCat has written an immensely powerful, loving, lyrical story of how the profound search to understand our foundations, to know our ancestors, our communities and those closest to us, shapes and influences who we are and the path we walk on. Julian seamlessly weaves the present and past together, as he tells a beautiful, fearless, origin story, his own—the son of the coyote.” —Tanya Talaga, author of The Knowing and Seven Fallen Feathers

Additional Information
432 pages | 6.12" x 9.12" | 8 pp 4c photographs | Hardcover 

Winnipeg and Other Places / Winnipeg et ailleurs is a back-to-back bilingual collection of short stories which read as sketches or snapshots of the author’s wanderings. Seen through the author’s subjective lenses, no two people have the same recollection of the past or of what just happened. Memory, loss, and longing are shaped by the author’s native Winnipeg and wherever else fate has taken him.

Educator Information
Bilingual: English and French.

Additional Information
75 pages | 3.00" x 5.00" | Paperback

My name is Corinne George. I am Wet’suwet’en with Gitksan lineage from the Gidimt’en (Bear) Clan. This is my truth, and through sharing my truth, I strive for ongoing healing and to continue the journey of reconciliation. As a Wet’suwet’en woman born and raised on what is now known as the “Highway of Tears,” it was not uncommon to receive inferior treatment. There were even times when I was overtly targeted. It has been very common for people to outwardly refuse to acknowledge my existence as a human being. I was always afraid to share my truth because I did not want to be stigmatized. I am the daughter of a residential school survivor and a WWII veteran. As a result of colonization, I have encountered incredible levels of trauma. I need to acknowledge and speak my truth. As I share my pain and experiences, I have gathered self-awareness and every time I speak about my trauma, I heal a little bit more. I do not deserve to be treated like I do not exist. Despite the historical impacts of colonization and trauma, my connections to my ancestral ways and my identity have been critical. This is how I survived and how I strive to thrive.

Educator Information
Recommended for ages 16+.

Additional Information
128 pages | 5.10" x 7.50" | Paperback

A poignant and inspiring memoir of the people and challenges that shaped the life and career of Canada's most decorated Indigenous athlete.

Over the course of his incredible career, Bryan Trottier set a new standard of hockey excellence. A seven-time Stanley Cup champion (four with the New York Islanders, two with the Pittsburgh Penguins, and one as an assistant coach with the Colorado Avalanche), Trottier won countless awards and is a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame and the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame. In 2017, he was named one of the NHL's Top 100 Players of All Time.

Trottier grew up in Val Marie, Saskatchewan, the son of a Cree/Chippewa/Metis father and an Irish-Canadian mother. All Roads Home offers a poignant, funny, wise, and inspiring look at his coming of age, both on and off the ice. It is a unique memoir in which Trottier shares stories about family, friends, teammates, and coaches, the lessons that he has learned from them, and the profound impact they have had in shaping the person he has become.

Some of the incredible characters featured in the book include Trottier's father Buzz; legendary Islanders coach Al Arbour; teammates Clark Gillies and Mike Bossy; and the Penguins' Mario Lemieux, to name but a few. He'll also talk about the high school English teacher and guidance counsellor who helped him develop self-confidence and encouraged him as a writer: Governor General's Award–winning poet, Lorna Crozier.

All Roads Home also includes a Foreword from bestselling author Jesse Thistle (From the Ashes) and two very special Afterwords: one from Trottier's daughter, Lindsy Ruthven, and the other from his life-long friend, beloved hockey great Dave "Tiger" Williams.

Additional Information
304 pages | 5.16" x 7.95" | Paperback

Carly Butler was a lively, imaginative child being raised by her strong and independent mom, DJ, in 1990s Montana. They were a dynamic duo, working on housing projects and bringing music to the local church. Then, a whisper of a threatened future began to grow louder: Y2K was coming.

Believing every conspiracy theory and Evangelical Christian prediction they encountered to be true, DJ and a young, impressionable Carly set out on a lonely path. Taught to prepare for the worst and to fear her girlhood dreams as warnings from God, Carly and her mother flee to the Canadian wilderness, leaving behind Barbies and Nintendo for chopping wood and shooting empty bottles for target practice. They connected with other Evangelical Christians preparing for doomsday, but were often stranded alone, without electricity, for weeks at a time as the winter—and the apocalypse—approached.

But what happens when the world doesn’t end, after all?

Apocalypse Child is a startling memoir about growing up in a tumultuous home, coming of age in isolation, and trying to figure out how to connect as an adult when your education has consisted of conspiracy theories, survivalist measures, and religious doctrine. From doomsday preparation and ideologies of purity and paranoia to motherhood and explorations of a burgeoning queer, Mexican-Indigenous identity, Carly Butler takes us on a gripping journey of resilience, self-discovery, and searching for community.

Additional Information
246 pages | 6.00" x 9.00" | Paperback

When matriarchs begin to disappear, there is a choice to either step into the places they left behind, or to craft a new space.

Helen Knott’s bestselling debut memoir, In My Own Moccasins, wowed reviewers, award juries, and readers alike with its profoundly honest and moving account of addiction, intergenerational trauma, resilience, and survival. Now, with her highly anticipated second book, Knott exceeds the highest of expectations with a chronicle of grief, love, and legacy. Having lost both her mom and grandmother in just over six months, forced to navigate the fine lines between matriarchy, martyrdom, and codependency, Knott realizes she must let go, not just of them, but of who she thought she was.

Woven into the pages are themes of mourning, sobriety through loss, and generational dreaming. Becoming a Matriarch is charted with poetic insights, sass, humour, and heart, taking the reader over the rivers and mountains of Dane Zaa territory in Northeastern British Columbia, along the cobbled streets of Antigua, Guatemala, and straight to the heart of what matriarchy truly means. This is a journey through pain, on the way to becoming.

Through writing, reflecting, and dreaming I found my way to the real lessons.
I found permission to become whoever I needed to be.
I found permission to live a life and not just endure it.
I found permission to belong deeply to myself.
I found permission to lay to rest the sorrow of the women before me and to cultivate joy for us in its place.

Awards

• 2024 BC Book Awards - The George Ryga Award for Social Awareness in Literature winner

Reviews
“In enchantingly vivid language and with a compelling narrative arc, Helen Knott’s new masterpiece is a memoir of grief and joy, loss and rediscovery, flight and return and, above all, a paean to the beautiful, eternal, soothing and all-encompassing power of matriarchy.” —Gabor Maté MD, author of The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness and Healing in a Toxic Culture

“Knott lays out that which all Indigenous women know and feel on a cellular level—we are only here because of the women, the matriarchs, the warriors, the survivors, the courageous ones, the fierce ones, the loving ones who came before us. Beautifully, tenderly Knott maps out for the reader the intrinsic way Indigenous women lift up, celebrate and support one another. Even when no one else does. We always have each other. We see each other. We are each other’s medicine. And there is no greater gift. These are the stories Indigenous women must tell—the journeys, reclamation and place of matriarchs. Present in Knott’s words are paths to reconciliation for everyone.” —Nahanni Fontaine, Member of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba

“Becoming a Matriarch is a vivid, lyrical exploration of womanhood, loss, grief, and eventually, self-love, braided together with radiance and wisdom. Knott brilliantly uses memory as a tool for self-exploration and growth. The land, dreams and body are in constant communication: ‘My body knows the mountains and rivers and berry bushes that it comes from.’ Throughout the book you can’t help but ask yourself, what does it mean to come from strong women and still allow yourself space to be loved? Becoming a Matriarch teaches us that joy can exist inside the cracks of the most tumultuous times in our lives and love can still bloom if we let it.” —Chelene Knight, author of Dear Current Occupant and Junie

“Becoming a Matriarch is a feast of remarkable, colourful, deep and profoundly raw storytelling. Helen Knott is one of the greatest Indigenous literary artists of our time.” —Brandi Morin, author of Our Voice of Fire: A Memoir of a Warrior Rising

Additional Information
224 pages | 5.18" x 8.00" | Paperback

Growing up in Montana, Chris La Tray always identified as Indian. Despite the fact that his father fiercely denied any connection, he found Indigenous people alluring, often recalling his grandmother’s consistent mention of their Chippewa heritage.

When La Tray attended his grandfather’s funeral as a young man, he finally found himself surrounded by relatives who obviously were Indigenous. “Who were they?” he wondered, and “Why was I never allowed to know them?” Combining diligent research and compelling conversations with authors, activists, elders, and historians, La Tray embarks on a journey into his family’s past, discovering along the way a larger story of the complicated history of Indigenous communities—as well as the devastating effects of colonialism that continue to ripple through surviving generations. And as he comes to embrace his full identity, he eventually seeks enrollment with the Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians, joining their 158-year-long struggle for federal recognition.

Both personal and historical, Becoming Little Shell is a testament to the power of storytelling, to family and legacy, and to finding home. Infused with candor, heart, wisdom, and an abiding love for a place and a people, Chris La Tray’s remarkable journey is both revelatory and redemptive.

Reviews
“La Tray’s pride and conviction will have readers eager not only to learn more, but to take action. A brilliant contribution to the canon of Native American literature.”—Kirkus Reviews, starred review

“[A] gripping debut memoir. [. . .]  La Tray’s crystalline prose and palpable passion for spreading Indigenous history bolster his account. Readers will be fascinated.”—Publishers Weekly

"Heartbreaking, infuriating, and remarkable, Becoming Little Shell is a memoir that’s packed with historical details,transcending and amplifying a personal quest to understand a family’s past."—Foreword Reviews, starred review 

“Smart, emotional, and bracingly honest, La Tray is a powerful storyteller who should have significant appeal.”—Booklist

“I’m in awe of Chris La Tray’s storytelling. Becoming Little Shell creates a multilayered narrative from threads of personal, family, community, tribal, and national histories. Together they make a story as strong and beautiful as a Metis sash—a story of identity, kinship, and the journey toward justice.”—Robin Wall Kimmerer, author of Braiding Sweetgrass

“Chris La Tray is a powerful voice—a force of nature, really—to guide us through the swirling confluence of Native and white worlds, both past and present. Becoming Little Shell is the American story of our era—tracing the arc of its author brought up in the white world before discovering his roots as an original inhabitant of this continent.”—Peter Stark, author of Gallop Toward the Sun

“Indigenous identity can be complicated, and Becoming Little Shell compels us into the thick of it—Native people dispossessed of not just land but recognition; blood quantum laws originally crafted to complete a genocide and still wreaking havoc in identity debates today; racism that drove many Native people to disassociate from their families; and descendants, like La Tray, who have found their way back, fighting for the reconnection of their communities and for the observance of their very existence. La Tray is a loving, discerning, curious, funny, and generous guide. This is a beautiful, big-hearted book.”—Sierra Crane Murdoch, author of Yellow Bird

“Becoming Little Shell is a moving, deeply felt, and incredibly detailed account of Chris La Tray’s search for his origins among the Métis, Pembina, and Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians. Combining memoir, history, interviews, and travel, La Tray gives us nothing less than the history of a people in the form of an absorbing and emotionally searing memoir. This book will, without a doubt, become a classic in Native American literature. Must read.”—David Treuer, author of The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee

“What I appreciate so much about Chris La Tray’s writing on Indigenous identity and history is the wit, clarity, and integrity embodied in every word. Becoming Little Shell beautifully encompasses a journey that we can all learn from, a journey toward asking better questions about land, belonging, and connection, and through this book La Tray epitomizes historian, poet, and teacher. Full of Indigenous history, personal stories, and the complex dance between the two, La Tray reminds us that the journey of finding ourselves and making sense of the way colonialism plays out around us is an essential part of being human. Please read this book. You’ll be so glad you did.”—Kaitlin B. Curtice, author of Living Resistance

Additional Information
320 pages | 6.00" x 9.00" | Hardcover

Part look-book, part memoir, and part history, this beautifully illustrated monument to a singular designer who helped inspire the growing Indigenous fashion movement is also a powerful demonstration of the enduring resonance and possibilities of Haida art.

Inspired by a discussion with celebrated Haida artist Bill Reid, Haida designer Dorothy Grant made it her life's mission to bring her culture's traditional art into contemporary fashion while adhering to the principle of Yaguudang, or respect for oneself and others. The 1989 launch of her Feastwear collection, featuring modern silhouettes hand-appliquéd with Northwest Coast formline, immediately established her at the forefront of Indigenous fashion in North America, and she has since hosted runway shows and trunk sales from Paris to Vancouver to Tokyo. Her clients include Indigenous leaders, national politicians, and global celebrities, and her garments can be found in museums and galleries around the world, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Dorothy Grant: An Endless Thread is the first monograph to celebrate her trailblazing career. It features new photography of dozens of garments spanning the past four decades, modeled in studio and natural settings in Vancouver and Haida Gwaii, alongside sketches, traditional button robes and spruce-root weaving, and personal stories and reflections from Grant. Essays by Haida repatriation specialist and museologist Sdahl Ḵ'awaas Lucy Bell and curator India Rael Young place Grant in the long continuum of Haida fashion and trace the many innovations and accomplishments of her journey, and Haida curator and artist Kwiaahwah Jones, a longtime assistant to Grant, shares behind-the-scenes insights and memories. An associated exhibition, Dorothy Grant: Raven Comes Full Circle, opened at Haida Gwaii Museum in July 2024.

Educator Information
The publisher notes this work is from Dorothy Grant in collaboration with the Haida Gwaii Museum. Contributors to this work include:

• Sdahl Ḵ’awaas Lucy Bell
• Taa.uu ’Yuuwans Nika Collison
• Kwiaahwah Jones
• India Rael Young

Additional Information
168 pages | 9.44" x 10.35" | Hardcover 

A Sixties Scoop survivor's journey back to her Nation and the truth of who she is

Otipemisiwak is a Plains Cree word describing the Metis, meaning "the people who own themselves."

Andrea Currie was born into a Metis family with a strong lineage of warriors, land protectors, writers, artists, and musicians - all of which was lost to her when she was adopted as an infant into a white family with no connection to her people. It was 1960, and the Sixties Scoop was in full swing. Together with her younger adopted brother, also Metis, she struggled through her childhood, never feeling like she belonged in that world. When their adoptions fell apart during their teen years, the two siblings found themselves on different paths, yet they stayed connected. Currie takes us through her journey, from the harrowing time of bone-deep disconnection, to the years of searching and self-discovery, into the joys and sorrows of reuniting with her birth family.

Finding Otipemisiwak weaves lyrical prose, poetry, and essays into an incisive commentary on the vulnerability of Indigenous children in a white supremacist child welfare system, the devastation of cultural loss, and the rocky road some people must walk to get to the truth of who they are. Her triumph over the state's attempts to erase her as an Indigenous person is tempered by the often painful complexities of re-entering her cultural community while bearing the mark of the white world in which she was raised. In Finding Otipemisiwak, one woman's stories about surviving, then thriving as a fully present member of her Nation and the human family are a portal. Readers who walk through will better understand the impact of the Sixties Scoop in the country now called Canada.

Reviews
"Finding Otipemisiwak is a stunning, illuminating, and gutting journey through the life of a Sixties Scoop survivor. Page turning, genre bending, personal and political, staggeringly honest, heartbreaking, and glorious, it is a story of resistance, possibility, healing, and hope, of reclamation and reconciliation. With words to stop you in your tracks, Currie braids together heart, soul, and smarts in memoir, poems, threads of her family histories, the Red and Assiniboine Rivers, unflinching questions, and courage, making herself magnificently vulnerable. This book cuts to the heart of the Sixties Scoop crisis, addresses the intergenerational trauma of not only its survivors but its effects on all of us. It gives us all a chance to relearn the history of Canada and to dream of a healing in it. It is part of the truth-telling change this country so desperately needs." — Camille Fouillard, author of Precious Little

"Finding Otipemisiwak is a beautifully written story of tragedy and triumph, as well as one of escape from a false family into the embrace of a loving one. Threading through Currie's remarkable tale is a heart-wrenching bond between her and her adoptive brother, Rob. This book contains a story that desperately needs to be told." —Frank Macdonald, author of A Forest for Calum

"This book takes on the quality of a great radio documentary, splicing prose, poetry, and actuality as Andrea Currie cross-examines colonization and the story that settler society placed over her like a net. When she comes to know who she and her people are, there is joy and there is sadness, but also truth and belonging, a firm scaffolding as Andrea comes to own herself. Finding Otipemisiwak is a powerful act of resistance and gripping to read. It is a balm. —Shelagh Rogers, founding host and co-creator of The Next Chapter CBC Radio

"Finding Otipemisiwak is a poignant story of self-discovery, weaving Red River Metis heritage with personal narrative and ancestral lore and honouring resilience amidst the Sixties Scoop." —Albert G.D. Beck, Director, Manitoba Metis Federation

Additional Information
272 pages | 6.00" x 9.00" | Paperback

Delores Churchill, Haida weaver, shares the stories of her life, her culture and the importance of passing cultural knowledge from one generation to the next. Told with humility, humour and deep respect, From a Square to a Circle is a testament to the values of her people, a technical guide to her masterful weaving skills and a gift to the reader at every point along her journey.

Part memoir, part how-to guide, this book shines light on Delores’s weaving teachers, including her strong-minded mother Selina (Ilst’ayaa), whose teachings Delores once resisted as a child. The Haida are connected to weaving through their history, which goes back thousands of years ago as shown through discoveries like the 4,000-year-old baskets at south Baranof.

Walk with Delores as she harvests cedar bark for baskets, Selina teaching “by modelling and then leaving the learner to imitate.” Learn the weaving harvest and preparation terminology. Follow the steps of how to prepare cedar bark, harvest spruce roots, and learn natural dye recipes. Photos and diagrams are visual aids that accompany the steps to Haida weaving techniques and instructions.

Having passed her skills on to hundreds of people, believing that “weaving belongs to all of us,” Delores wishes to share the knowledge of basketweaving where beginners and skilled weavers are able to express their distinct selves, just as every coastal Indigenous weaving style is unique. The love for basketweaving displayed in Delores’s writing is sure to make readers yearn to try their own hand at the craft.

Additional Information
256 pages | 8.00" x 10.00" | 240 Photographs | Paperback 

Award-winning author Christina Myers navigates the uncharted territory of midlife in a time of rapid social, cultural, and environmental change.

Modern midlife is finding oneself halfway home but without any reliable maps for the route ahead. With wit and warmth, these personal essays move from a first bra to first hot flashes to consider the lessons we learn through media and culture--and from each other--about bodies, sexuality, fatphobia, gender roles, and what we should want in life. Christina Myers explores the ways that beauty standards and cultural expectations around femininity have shaped our identities and how we might shed those going forward; the power of friendships and the value of having other women to learn from; the anxiety of moving through motherhood into menopause in a time of global environmental crisis and political upheaval; and the uncertainty of how this stage of life should unfold, as old systems shift and crumble. Though our maps for midlife are never identical, we discover familiar paths and common landmarks in each other's stories; these essays remind us there are others on this trail with us, just behind or just ahead, out of sight. We are not alone.

Reviews
"Reading Halfway Home feels like having a conversation with a very wise, witty friend. Christina Myers's delightful collection of essays about the stages of a woman's life is personal, but also universal. We've all been there, and it's a joy to realize that we're not alone on the journey." — Elizabeth Renzetti, author of Shrewed: A Wry and Closely Observed Look at the Lives of Women and Girls

"Christina Myers effortlessly charts the often-overlooked territory of being a woman in today's complex society. Through insightful personal essays, she explores the intricate intersections of femininity, friendship, motherhood, and environmental turbulence, all with a nostalgic flair. With much-needed humour and wisdom, Myers reminds us that even in the midst of uncertainty, we're never alone on this journey. This book is a necessary, heartfelt guide for those seeking their own unique path through the maze of midlife. A must read!" — Chelene Knight, award-winning author of Let It Go: Free Yourself from Old Beliefs and Find a New Path to Joy

"Halfway Home is a love letter to mothers and grandmothers, sisters and daughters, witches and crones. Christina Myers's storytelling is gentle and honest, a must-read memoir for women of all ages. So many times, I found myself nodding and exclaiming, 'Yes! That's exactly it!' It's a mirror but also an invitation to join a secret coven of wise women." — K. J. Aiello, author of The Monster and the Mirror: Mental Illness, Magic, and the Stories We Tell

Educator Information
Includes one chapter focusing on the author's Indigenous identity. 

Additional Information
200 pages | 5.50" x 8.50" | Paperback