National Day for Truth and Reconciliation 2024

September 30th is the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation in so-called-Canada.

When the Pine Needles Fall: Indigenous Acts of Resistance by Katsi’tsakwas Ellen Gabriel with Sean Carleton

How many of us took “The Oka Crisis” at face value of media portrayal? Something along the line of lawless warriors in masks opposing the police in the summer of 1990? There were blockades and a militarized zone. Traffic inconveniences going into Montreal. You may recall that a golf course was set to dig up an Indigenous graveyard. 

The behind the scenes story is more complex, and long-standing, with not a lot of overlap with what was told in the media.

A light purple cover of a view through an ear-shaped whole to a covered shelter behind some trees. The title is in yellow text.

THINGS YOU MAY FIND HIDDEN IN MY EAR: POEMS FROM GAZA by Mosab Abu Toha

Political poetry is crucial to the Palestinian literary tradition, embodied perhaps most famously by the poet and author Mahmoud Darwish (1941-2008), who was displaced as a child during the Nakba. This rich literary tradition also includes Ghassan Kanafani (1936-1972), displaced to Lebanon in 1948 and assassinated by the Mossad at the age of 36. Many readers are familiar with Refaat Alareer, the poet and literature professor whose poem “If I Must Die” was circulated widely after his assassination in 2023. His colleague and close friend, Mosab Abu Toha, enters this impressive lineage with his debut collection, Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear. 

Cover of THe Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters. Title and author name is in yellow font over a blue background.

The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters

In 1962, a Nova Scotia Mi’kmaq family travels to Maine, where they have gone for many years to spend the summer picking berries. That year there are five children, the youngest, Ruthie, just four years old. One day, Ruthie and six-year-old Joe go off together to eat their lunch. Joe, distracted by something, leaves his sister on her own, and Ruthie goes missing.

Indigiqueerness: A Conversation About Storytelling by Joshua Whitehead, in dialogue with Angie Abdou

Indigiqueerness is a lean, skinny book full of meat. At just under 100 pages, it is a comprehensive dive into who is Joshua Whitehead. And, through this vessel, what makes a storyteller?

What to Read for Indigenous History Month!

Here are some recommendations from our editors to round out Indigenous History Month! These titles are written by, and about, Indigenous folks here on Turtle Island, but we encourage you to read Indigenous beyond so-called Canada as well!

Cover of At a Loss for Words: Conversation in an Age of Rage by Carol Off. The cover is white, with the title in black capital letters and the subtitle in red. At the bottom are a set of cubes spelling out "Fact" but the last two letters are sitting in an edge, so it could be read as "fake."

At a Loss for Words: Conversations in an Age of Rage by Carol Off

In a compelling and succinct introduction, Off argues that in the current context, we are witness to no less than the devolution of democracy in favour of the rise of populism and demagoguery, and sets out to prove that the deliberate weaponization of language is contributing to a blurred understanding of civil society.

In Sickness and In Health/ Yom Kippur in a Gym by Nora Gold

In Sickness and In Health by Nora Gold is the fictionalized memoir of a woman whose childhood was marked by epilepsy. Yom Kippur in a Gym by Nora Gold is a powerful, moving narrative that illuminates the messiness of our lives, while also providing a gentle nudge towards deep healing through kinship and faith.