Indigenous
The Good Walk: Creating New Paths on Traditional Prairie Trails by Matthew R. Anderson
This is a remarkable book about a remarkable — and ongoing — project.
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.
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.
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!
Water Confidential by Susan Blacklin
Water is a basic human right. In 2024, in Canada, there are First Nations Communities that have been living under Boil Water Advisories for up to 28 years.
A Beautiful Rebellion: poems by Rita Bouvier
There’s a gentle humility in persisting and insisting in the poem to build a better world.
Setting a Welcoming Table: Mitji – Let’s Eat! Mi’kmaq Recipes from Sikniktuk by Margaret Augustine, Dr. Lauren Beck, and Patricia Bourque
Accompanied by warm family photos shared by community members and richly toned photographs created specially for the book by Patricia Bourque, Margaret Augustine and Dr. Lauren Beck have prepared a welcoming place setting for anyone interested in Indigenous history and culture in Mitji – Let’s Eat! Mi’kmaq Recipes from Sikniktuk.
The Kodiaks: Home Ice Advantage by David A. Robertson
David A. Robertson has expertly woven age-appropriate teaching moments with all the unknowns of a young adolescent’s sudden upheaval in The Kodiaks.
Dancing With Our Ancestors: Ceremony and Celebration
In Dancing With Our Ancestors, readers are invited to participate in a special Haida Potlatch in Hydaburg Alaska, the birth place of co-author Robert Davidson.
Pictures on the Wall: Building a Canadian Art Collection by Michael Audain
Pictures on the Wall: Building a Canadian Art Collection is an interesting kind of coffee table book: heavy with weighty paper and beautiful pictures, but also a memoir of a life spent admiring art, pursuing art, and most interesting – repatriating art.
