Indigenous Peoples
Synopsis:
Sewing new understandings.
Indigenous beadwork has taken the art world by storm, but it is still sometimes misunderstood as static, anthropological artifact. Today’s prairie artists defy this categorization, demonstrating how beads tell stories and reclaim cultural identity. Whether artists seek out and share techniques through YouTube videos or in-person gatherings, beading fosters traditional methods of teaching and learning and enables intergenerational transmissions of pattern and skill.
In Bead Talk, editors Carmen Robertson, Judy Anderson, and Katherine Boyer gather conversations, interviews, essays, and full-colour reproductions of beadwork from expert and emerging artists, academics, and curators to illustrate the importance of beading in contemporary Indigenous arts. Taken together, the book poses and responds to philosophical questions about beading on the prairies: How do the practices and processes of beading embody reciprocity, respect, and storytelling? How is beading related to Indigenous ways of knowing? How does beading help individuals reconnect with the land? Why do we bead?
Showcasing beaded tumplines, text, masks, regalia, and more, Bead Talk emphasizes that there is no one way to engage with this art. The contributors to this collection invite us all into the beading circle as they reshape how beads are understood and stitch together generations of artists.
Reviews
“An evocative, aesthetically gorgeous book that is rich in knowledge, relationality, and experience. Curated with care, rooted in artistic practice and lived experience, and embodying a polyvocal, collaborative spirit, it immerses the reader in the world of Indigenous beadwork on the prairies. Bead Talk carries teachings about decolonial love, healing and medicine, cultural knowledges, political and theoretical modes of action, gendered experience, and more. I can’t think of any other book like this—it is a gift!” — Aubrey Hanson
Educator Information
Contributors: Ruth Cuthand, Dayna Danger, Sherry Farrell Racette, Marcy Friesen, Felicia Gay, Franchesca [Fran] Hebert-Spence, Audie Murray, Cathy Mattes.
Table of Contents
Foreword – Brenda Macdougall
Who We Are
Introduction – Carmen Robertson, Judy Anderson, and Katherine Boyer
Part I: Conversations
1. Mentoring/Beading – Ruth Cuthand and Marcy Friesen
2. mîkisistahêwin (bead medicine) – Judy Anderson and Audie Murray
3. Parallel Lines Move Along Together: A Beaded Line that Connects Me to You – Katherine Boyer and Dayna Danger
4. The Power of Gathering: Revisiting the Seeds of Ziigimineshin – Franchesca Hebert-Spence and Carmen Robertson
5. Beads, Blood, and Curating Ruth Cuthand’s Art – Felicia Gay and Carmen Robertson
Part II: Essays
6. “Until We Bead Again”: The BU Beading Babe and Embodying Lateral Love and Generous Reciprocity – Cathy Mattes
7. Visiting Kin: Indigenous Flatland Beading Aesthetics – Carmen Robertson
8. If the Needles Don’t Break and the Thread Doesn’t Tangle: Beading Utopia – Sherry Farrell Racette
Afterword: Spreading the Bead Love Far and Wide
Additional Information
240 pages | 6.00" x 8.50" | 62 colour illustrations | Paperback
Synopsis:
Returning to his favourite setting of Fort Simmer, Northwest Territories, Richard Van Camp brings his exuberant style to a captivating teen novel that blends the supernatural with 1980s-era nostalgia to reflect on friendship, tradition and forgiveness.
For as long as Lawson can remember, his life in a small Northwest Territories town has revolved around “the Treaty” between the Dogrib and the Chipewyan, set down centuries ago to prevent the return of bloody warfare between the two peoples.
On the Dogrib side, Lawson and his family have done their best to keep the pact alive with the neighbouring Cranes, a family with ancestral ties to a revered Chipewyan war chief. But even as Lawson and his father dutifully tidy the Cranes’ property as an act of respect, their counterparts offer little more than scowls and derision in return, despite the fact that both families are responsible for protecting the treaty.
Worse still, it seems that one of the Cranes’ boys is doing all he can to revive the old conflict: Silver, fresh out of jail, has placed himself in the service of a cruel, ghoulish spirit bent on destroying the peace. Now it's up to Isaiah Valentine, a Cree Grass Dancer, Shari Burns, a Metis psychic, and Lawson Sauron, a Dogrib Yabati—or protector—to face what Silver Cranes has called back.
This latest feat of storytelling magic by celebrated author Richard Van Camp blends sharply observed realism and hair-raising horror as it plays out against a 1980s-era backdrop replete with Platinum Blonde songs and episodes of Degrassi Junior High. Unfolding in the fictional town of Fort Simmer—the setting of previous Van Camp stories—Beast delivers a gripping, spirited tale that pits the powers of tradition against the pull of a vengeful past.
Educator Information
Young adult fiction.
Additional Information
312 pages | 5.50" x 8.50" | Paperback
Synopsis:
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
Synopsis:
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
Synopsis:
In this engrossing graphic novel, teen hockey player Chase learns more about himself and his identity in the face of prejudice and homophobia.
Thirteen-year-old Chase’s life and identity should be simple. He’s the goalie for his hockey team, the Eagles. He’s a friend to Kevin and Jade. He's Kookum's youngest grandchild. He’s a boy. He should like girls.
But it’s not that simple. Chase doesn’t like girls the way that the other boys do. It’s scary being so different from his peers. Scarier still is the feeling that his teammates can tell who he is—and that they hate him for it. If he pretends hard enough, maybe he can hide the truth.
Real strength and change can’t come from a place of shame. Chase’s dreams are troubled by visions of a bear spirit, and the more he tries to hide, the more everything falls apart. With the help of an Elder, and a Two-Spirit mentor, can Chase find the strength to be proud of who he is?
Between the Pipes explores toxic masculinity in hockey through the experiences of an Indigenous teen.
Reviews
“Highlights the importance of community and cultural connection as roots for embracing one’s identity.” — Kirkus Reviews
“The authors deftly confront multiple layers of intolerance exacerbated by toxic masculinity. Ojibwe artist RL uses saturated full color (with well-placed, empowering rainbows) to capture Chase’s self-empowering journey. The result is a compelling, hope-giving antidote against potential at-risk suicide among 2-Spirit/Indigenous LGBTQQIA+ youth.” — Booklist
“This hopeful...story offers valuable insight into Chase’s experience as a gay, Indigenous teen. Hockey and identity collide in this affirming graphic novel about recognizing and valuing one’s authentic self.” — School Library Journal
Educator Information
Recommended for ages 12 - 18.
Reading Level: Fountas & Pinnell Y
Additional Information
56 pages | 6.50" x 10.00" | Paperback
Synopsis:
Cherokee teen Billy Buckhorn had no idea what was in store for him when Osage teen Lisa Lookout and her family showed up on his doorstep. A tribal prophecy, carried by their family for a thousand years, indicates Billy is the long-awaited Chosen One, and that he is destined to battle dark ancient forces that are planning to retake control of the Middleworld. As Billy comes to accept his prophesied new role, he must also learn to accept that he and his loved ones are now targets of the most powerful shape-shifting Native American witches and sorcerers on Turtle Island. Known as the Night Seers of the Owl Clan, Billy must use old Indigenous ways, intertwined with new technology, to fight and defeat this evil force.
Billy Buckhorn and the Rise of the Night Seers is the second thrilling installment of the Thunder Child Prophecy Series.
Educator & Series Information
Recommended for grades 10 to 12.
This is the second book in the Thunder Child Prophecy, following Billy Buckhorn and the Book of Spells.
Additional Information
304 pages | 5.50" x 8.50" | b&w illustrations, 1 bibliography | Paperback
Synopsis:
Billy Buckhorn, aka Thunder Child, battles the Owl Clan and the Serpent Society when they renew their ancient evil alliance. First, they launch a series of supernatural events meant to usher in a new age of horrific Underworld dominance. Next, bizarre weather patterns produce raging floods, and fantastic beasts from Native American legends roam North America once again. Worst of all, the Snake Priest, riding the ancient and malevolent Winged Serpent, rises from the deepest regions below to exact revenge and take control of everyone and everything in the Middleworld! Can Billy and his dedicated, gifted team--his oldest friend Chigger, Osage girlfriend Lisa, the Intertribal Medicine Council, and his allies in the Upperworld--prevent this apocalypse from happening?
Billy Buckhorn and the War of Worlds is the third thrilling installment of the Thunder Child Prophecy Series.
Educator & Series Information
The publisher recommends books in the Thunder Child Prophecy series for grades 10 to 12; however, they note that this title is appropriate for ages 12+.
This is the third book in the Thunder Child Prophecy, following the first book Billy Buckhorn and the Book of Spells and the second book Billy Buckhorn and the Book Of Spells.
Additional Information
336 pages | 5.50" x 8.50" | b&w illustrations, 1 bibliography | Paperback
Synopsis:
Thumps DreadfulWater has a lot on his plate. With Duke out of commission following his wife’s tragic death, Thumps is appointed temporary deputy sheriff, a role that makes him doubly eager for Duke’s swift recovery.
First, a myopic private investigator dies while in custody. The autopsy concludes that he died of natural causes; then an assault rifle is found in the trunk of the dead man’s rental car, and the mystery woman he was investigating disappears. Meanwhile, Thumps contends with a couple of horse-thieving octogenarians and a large, slobbery dog acquired in the line of duty.
As the rest of Chinook comes together to cheer on golf novice Wutty Youngbeaver, who is competing in the US Open qualifying tournament up at Shadow Ranch, Claire and Ivory decamp to Alberta, leaving Thumps to contemplate the simplicity of a life lived alone. If he can’t manage something as simple as a dog or a couple of cats, how can he be responsible for another human being? Two human beings?
The plot thickens when ninja assassin Cisco Cruz returns to Chinook, and Thumps finds himself knee-deep in a complicated web of deceit spun by a nefarious collective known as Black Ice. His job? To sort through the lies. It’s like a game of Jenga, where the blocks need to be removed carefully, one by one, or the whole structure will topple.
Series Information
This book is from the DreadfulWater Mystery series, a mystery/detective series from Thomas King.
Books in this series include:
- Dreadful Water
- The Red Power Murders
- Cold Skies
- A Matter of Malice
- The Obsidian Murders
- Deep House
- Double Eagle
- Black Ice
Additional Information
384 pages | 6.00" x 9.00" | Paperback
Synopsis:
Residential school life through the eyes of a child.
Enos Montour's Brown Tom's Schooldays, self-published in 1985, tells the story of a young boy's life at residential school. Drawn from Montour's first-hand experiences at Mount Elgin Indian Residential School between 1910 and 1915, the book is an ironic play on "the school novel," namely 1857's Tom Brown's Schooldays by Thomas Hughes.
An accomplished literary text and uncommon chronicle of federal Indian schooling in the early twentieth century, Brown Tom's Schooldays positions Brown Tom and his schoolmates as citizens of three worlds: the reserve, the "white man's world," and the school in between. It follows Tom leaving his family home, making friends, witnessing ill health and death, and enduring constant hunger.
Born at Six Nations of the Grand River in 1899, Montour earned degrees in Arts and Divinity at McGill University and served as a United Church minister for more than thirty years, honing his writing in newspapers and magazines and publishing two books of family history. Brown Tom's Schooldays reflects Montour's intelligence and skill as well as his love of history, parody, and literature.
This critical edition includes a foreword by the book's original editor, Elizabeth Graham, and an afterword by Montour's granddaughters, Mary Anderson and Margaret McKenzie. In her introduction, historian Mary Jane Logan McCallum documents Montour's life and work, details Brown Tom's Schooldays's publication history, and offers further insight into the operations of Mount Elgin. Entertaining and emotionally riveting, Montour's book opens a unique window into a key period in Canada's residential school history.
Reviews
"A fantastic read. People need more books like this, which are directly related to the TRC but are also a testament to the strength and creativity of Indigenous literature." — Crystal Fraser, University of Alberta
"Brown Tom's Schooldays is a literary artifact from the residential school era. In this fictionalized coming of age account, Enos Montour captures the youthful hopes, dreams, and disappointments of his real life upbringing at Mount Elgin, one of Canada's earliest and longest running residential schools. Unique in style, tone, and perspective, Schooldays is an important read for anyone interested in understanding the residential school system and for all of us who call the lower Great Lakes home." — Thomas Peace, Huron at Western University
Educator Information
This book is part of the First Voices, First Texts series.
Table of Contents
Foreword: On A Personal Note, The Making of Brown Tom’s Schooldays, 1982–1984 by Elizabeth Graham
Introduction: Enos Montour, Brown Tom, and “Ontario Indian” Literature by Mary Jane Logan McCallum
Brown Tom’s Schooldays by Enos Montour
Chapter 1: Salad Days
Chapter 2: Brown Tom Arrives
Chapter 3: Brown Tom's Three Worlds
Chapter 4: The Milling Herd
Chapter 5: Loaf 'n' Lard
Chapter 6: Brown Tom Makes a Deal
Chapter 7: Too Big for Santa Claus
Chapter 8: Brown Tom's Happy Days
Chapter 9: Trial By Fire
Chapter 10: Brown Tom "Has It Bad"
Chapter 11: Brown Tom Gets Religion
Chapter 12: The Roar of Mighty Waters
Chapter 13: Happy Hunting Ground for Noah
Chapter 14: War Clouds Over Mt. Elgin
Chapter 15: Brown Tom "Arrives"
Afterword by Mary Anderson and Margaret McKenzie
Appendix 1: Glossary of Idioms and References in Brown Tom’s Schooldays
Appendix 2: Bibliography of Works by Enos Montour
Endnotes
Bibliography
Additional Information
216 pages | 5.50" x 8.50" | 20 b&w illustrations, 3 maps | Paperback
Synopsis:
The first comprehensive study of Indian residential schools in the North.
In this ground-breaking book, Crystal Gail Fraser draws on Dinjii Zhuh (Gwich'in) concepts of individual and collective strength to illuminate student experiences in northern residential schools, revealing the many ways Indigenous communities resisted the institutionalization of their children.
After 1945, federal bureaucrats and politicians increasingly sought to assimilate Indigenous northerners--who had remained comparatively outside of their control--into broader Canadian society through policies that were designed to destroy Indigenous ways of life. Foremost among these was an aggressive new schooling policy that mandated the construction of Grollier and Stringer Halls: massive residential schools that opened in Inuvik in 1959, eleven years after a special joint committee of the House of Commons and the Senate recommended that all residential schools in Canada be closed.
By Strength, We Are Still Here shares the lived experiences of Indigenous northerners from 1959 until 1982, when the territorial government published a comprehensive plan for educational reform. Led by Survivor testimony, Fraser shows the roles both students and their families played in disrupting state agendas, including questioning and changing the system to protect their cultures and communities.
Centring the expertise of Knowledge Keepers, By Strength, We Are Still Here makes a crucial contribution to Indigenous research methodologies and to understandings of Canadian and Indigenous histories during the second half of the twentieth century.
Reviews
"By Strength, We Are Still Here demonstrates an intergenerational process of love and strength. Fraser's methodology, theory work, and incredibly thorough research are in and of themselves lifegiving, vital, and serve as an example to all other scholars." — Omeasoo Wahpasiw
"By integrating survivor testimony with archives, Fraser points towards the Indigenous resistance revealed in the ellipses and gaps in the colonial record. This is very important work." — Chris Trott
Educator Information
Table of Contents
Glossary
A Note on Region and Terminology
Introduction—By Strength, We Are Still Here.
Chapter One—“If anyone is going to jail for this, I’m taking it”: Our Relatives Speak
- Education in Nanhkak Thak Before the Arrival of Settlers
- Indian Day and Residential Schools
- The Construction of Inuvik
Chapter Two—Calls Grow. “Listen! It’s louder now. From here, from there. Indian voices, Métis voices, demanding attention, demanding equality!"
Chapter Three—“The long process of tearing our family apart”
Chapter Four—“Making us into nice white kids.”
Chapter Five—“The hazards that can result from too permissive or undisciplined sexual behaviour.”
Chapter Six—“To find that inner peace, it was so important for us all.”
Chapter Seven—“These are our children and they are very precious to us.”
Conclusion—“We knew the value of strength.”
Appendix A
Endnotes
Additional Information
320 pages | 6.00" x 9.00" | 69 b&w illustrations, index, bibliography | Paperback
Synopsis:
A powerful work of reportage and American history that braids the story of the forced removal of Native Americans onto treaty lands in the nation’s earliest days, and a small-town murder in the ‘90s that led to a Supreme Court ruling reaffirming Native rights to that land over a century later.
Before 2020, American Indian reservations made up roughly 55 million acres of land in the United States. Nearly 200 million acres are reserved for National Forests—in the emergence of this great nation, our government set aside more land for trees than for Indigenous peoples. That changed on July 9, 2020, when a high-profile Supreme Court case—which originated with a small-town murder two decades earlier—affirmed the reservation of Muscogee Nation. The ruling resulted in the largest restoration of tribal land in U.S. history, merely because the Court chose to follow the law.
In the 1830s Muscogee people were rounded by the US military at gunpoint and forced into exile halfway across the continent. At the time, they were promised this new land would be theirs for as long as the grass grew and the waters ran. But that promise was not kept. When Oklahoma was create on top of their land, the new state claimed their reservation no longer existed. Over a century later, when a Muscogee citizen was sentenced to death for murdering another Muscogee citizen, his defense attorneys argued the murder occurred on the reservation of his tribe, and therefore Oklahoma didn’t have the jurisdiction to execute him. Oklahoma argued that reservation no longer existed. In the summer of 2020, the Supreme Court said: no more; a ruling that would ultimately underpin multiple reservations covering half the land in Oklahoma, including Nagle’s own Cherokee Nation.
Here Rebecca Nagle tells the story of the generations-long fight for tribal land and sovereignty in Eastern Oklahoma. By chronicling both the contemporary legal battle and historic acts of Indigenous resistance, By the Fire We Carry stands as a landmark work of American history. The story it tells exposes both the wrongs that our nation has committed in its long history of greed, corruption and lawlessness, and the Native battle for the right to be here that has shaped our country.
Educator Information
By the Fire We Carry is hard-hitting American history that expands on the nation's story. It tells of the treatment of Native Americans, their removal and displacement, and the genocide committed against them by the US government from their viewpoint.
Additional Information
352 pages | 6.00" x 9.00" | 23 b/w photographs and maps | Hardcover
Synopsis:
Les ours mettent souvent les hommes en échec, même quand ils sont traqués. La chasse à l’ours est la plus exigeante de toutes. Parfois, si un ours est arrêté par les chiens, il peut les tuer. Parfois aussi, il peut tuer un homme. Les ours blancs sont terribles. On les chasse malgré tout, car il n’y a pas le choix. Ils donnent de la nourriture et des vêtements. En pleine tempête de neige, un ours polaire attaque un campement inuit et éviscère de nombreux chiens. Convaincus que l’animal est malade et qu’il s’en prendra de nouveau aux leurs, des chasseurs se lancent à sa poursuite au péril de leur vie. Parmi eux, le jeune Kamik, qui rêve de manier le harpon avec la même aisance que son père, découvrira rapidement les dangers d’une existence que l’environnement arctique ne cesse de menacer.Paru il y a cinquante ans, Chasseur au harpon est considéré comme le premier roman en inuktitut jamais publié. Dans ce livre qui a grandement contribué à l’essor de la littérature autochtone au Canada, Markoosie Patsauq nous offre une aventure trépidante, marquée de bout en bout par la violence et la mort, et nous plonge dans la réalité d’une communauté encore préservée de l’intrusion de la modernité. Surtout, à travers la traque symbolique d’un ours et le dur apprentissage d’un jeune garçon, il met en scène le combat immémorial que ces hommes et ces femmes doivent livrer pour survivre. Pour la toute première fois, cette édition propose une traduction en français établie à partir du texte original en inuktitut, et non à partir de son adaptation en anglais. Accompagnée d’une préface de la gouverneure générale du Canada Mary Simon, ancienne présidente du Conseil circumpolaire inuit, d’une postface inédite de Patsauq et d’une note des traducteurs, elle offre une lecture nouvelle et une remise en contexte bienvenue de ce roman fondateur.
Educator Information
This book is available in English: Hunter with Harpoon
Additional Information
Paperback
Synopsis:
A tragic plane crash that leaves two women stranded and fighting for their lives kicks off this sweeping and hilarious novel from award-winning writer Drew Hayden Taylor that blends thriller, murder mystery, and horror with humour and spectacle.
Elmore Trent is a professor of Indigenous studies who finds himself entangled in an affair that's ruining his marriage; Paul North plays in the IHL (Indigenous Hockey League), struggling to keep up with the game that's passing him by; Detective Ruby Birch is chasing a string of gruesome murders, with clues that conspicuously lead her to both Elmore and Paul. And then there's Fabiola Halan, former journalist-turned-author and famed survivor of a plane crash that sparked a nationwide tour promoting her book.
What starts off as a series of subtle connections between isolated characters quickly takes a menacing turn, as it becomes increasingly clear that someone—or something—is hunting them all.
Taking tropes from the murder mystery, police procedural, thriller, and horror genres, Drew Hayden Taylor weaves a pulse-pounding and propulsive narrative with an intricate cast of characters, while never losing the ability to make you laugh.
Reviews
"Cold is an absolutely enthralling novel from a legendary writer and storyteller. Drew Hayden Taylor is a master of genuinely capturing contemporary Indigenous realities in fiction, making the vibrant characters in this exceptional story relatable and real. Cold is creepy and funny, smart and lively, and overall a strikingly dynamic book that will keep readers on edge from start to finish."—Waubgeshig Rice, author of Moon of the Crusted Snow and Moon of the Turning Leaves
"The myth of the Wendigo has shaped narratives from Pet Semetary to Shadow Country to The Hunger—but never in my reading has it been so cleverly and relevantly employed as it is in Drew Hayden Taylor's serpentine and haunting new novel, Cold." —Nick Cutter, author of The Troop and Little Heaven
Additional Information
368 pages | 5.50" x 8.25" | Paperback
Synopsis:
A tender tale of two cousins
In Cousin Bear Comes to Visit, Metis artist Halie Finney introduces us to Francis the Bear as she prepares to reunite with her cousin. The pair haven't seen one another in quite awhile, so it's time to catch up, laugh–and uncover Cousin's big secret.
This debut work by Halie reveals a small snippet of the mythology of characters that she has created and modeled after her own hometown and the people who reside there. She uses the tales that come from her imagined world to explore themes of family, nostalgia, and grief from Indigenous and small-town perspectives.
Educator Information
The publisher recommends this work for ages 12+.
Additional Information
120 pages | 4.25" x 6.25" | Paperback
Synopsis:
An eighty-year overview of wood and argillite carving by Indigenous women artists on the Northwest Coast.
Though women of the Northwest Coast have long carved poles, canoes, panels, and masks, many of these artists have not become as well known outside their communities as their male counterparts. These artists are cherished within their communities for helping to keep traditional carving practices alive, and for maintaining the dances, songs, and ceremonies that are intertwined with visual art production. This book, and an associated exhibition at the Audain Art Museum, gathers a range of sculptural formats by Indigenous women in order to expand the discourse of carving in the region.
Both the exhibition and publication are co-curated by Dana Claxton, artist, filmmaker and head of the University of British Columbia's Department of Art History, Visual Art and Theory; and Dr. Curtis Collins, the AAM's Director & Chief Curator. Commentaries by Skeena Reece, Claxton, and Marika Swan, and interviews with artists Dale Campbell and Mary Anne Barkhouse are presented alongside more than one hundred artworks from public and private collections across North America, including several newly commissioned pieces.
Featured artists include:
- Ellen Neel (Kwakwaka'wakw, 1916-1966) - Freda Diesing (Haida, 1925-2002) - Doreen Jensen (Gitxsan, 1933-2009) - Susan Point (Musqueam, b. 1952) - Dale Campbell (Tahltan, b. 1954) - Marianne Nicolson (Kwakwaka'wakw, b. 1969) - Arlene Ness (Gitxsan, b. 1970s) - Melanie Russ (Haida, b. 1977) - Marika Swan (Nuu-chah-nulth, b. 1982) - Morgan Asoyuf (Ts'msyen, b. 1984) - Cori Savard (Haida, b. 1985) - Cherish Alexander (Gitwangak, b. 1987) - Stephanie Anderson (Wetsuwet'en, b. 1991) - Veronica Waechter (Gitxsan, b. 1995)
Additional Information
160 pages | 9.20" x 1.10" | 120 colour photos | Hardcover