Download or read book Peyakow written by Darrel J. McLeod and published by Milkweed Editions. This book was released on 2021-08-10 with total page 195 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Following his award-winning debut memoir, Mamaskatch, which masterfully portrayed a Cree coming-of-age in rural Canada, Darrel J. McLeod continues the poignant story of his adulthood. In Mamaskatch, McLeod captured an early childhood full of the stories, scents, and sensations of his great-grandfather’s cabin, as well as the devastating separation from family, ensuing abuse, and eventual loss of his mother that permeated his adolescence. In the equally potent Peyakow, McLeod follows a young man through many seasons of his life, navigating an ever-turbulent personal and political landscape filled with loss, love, addiction, and perseverance. Guided internally by his deep connection to his late grandfather, in a constant quest for happiness, McLeod strives to improve his own life as well as the lives of Indigenous peoples in Canada and beyond. This leads him to a multifaceted career and life as a school principal, chief treaty negotiator, executive director of education and international affairs, representative of an Indigenous delegation to the United Nations in Geneva, jazz musician, and, today, celebrated author. Weaving together the past and the present through powerful, linked chapters, McLeod confronts how both the personal traumas of his youth and the historical traumas of his ancestral line impact the trajectory of his life. With unwavering and heart-wrenching honesty, Peyakow—Cree for “one who walks alone”—recounts how one man carries the spirit of his family through the lifelong process of healing.
Download or read book Peyakow written by Darrel J. McLeod and published by . This book was released on 2021-03-20 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A heart-wrenchingly personal story with the power to inspire and empower people across cultures and generations.
Download or read book Mamaskatch written by Darrel J. McLeod and published by Milkweed Editions. This book was released on 2019-06-11 with total page 211 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As a small boy in remote Alberta, Darrel J. McLeod is immersed in his Cree family’s history, passed down in the stories of his mother, Bertha. There he is surrounded by her tales of joy and horror—of the strong men in their family, of her love for Darrel, and of the cruelty she and her sisters endured in residential school—as well as his many siblings and cousins, and the smells of moose stew and wild peppermint tea. And there young Darrel learns to be fiercely proud of his heritage and to listen to the birds that will guide him throughout his life. But after a series of tragic losses, Bertha turns wild and unstable, and their home life becomes chaotic. Sweet and eager to please, Darrel struggles to maintain his grades and pursue interests in music and science while changing homes, witnessing domestic violence, caring for his younger siblings, and suffering abuse at the hands of his brother-in-law. Meanwhile, he begins to question and grapple with his sexual identity—a reckoning complicated by the repercussions of his abuse and his sibling’s own gender transition. Thrillingly written in a series of fractured vignettes, and unflinchingly honest, Mamaskatch—“It’s a wonder!” in Cree—is a heartbreaking account of how traumas are passed down from one generation to the next, and an uplifting story of one individual who overcame enormous obstacles in pursuit of a fulfilling and adventurous life.
Download or read book Saga Boy written by Antonio Michael Downing and published by Milkweed Editions. This book was released on 2021-09-14 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Black immigrant journeys from the Caribbean to Canada—and through multiple musical personas—in a “deeply moving” memoir “suffused with poetic prose” (Publishers Weekly, starred review). As a clever, willful boy in a tiny village in the tropical forests of Trinidad—raised by his indomitable grandmother, Miss Excelly, and her King James Bible—Antonio Michael Downing is steeped in the legacies of his scattered family, the vibrant culture of the island, and the weight of its colonial history. But after Miss Excelly’s death, everything changes. The eleven-year-old seems to fall asleep in the jungle and wake up in a blizzard: he is sent to live with his devoutly evangelical Aunt Joan in rural Canada, where they are the only Black family in a landscape starkly devoid of the warm lushness of his childhood. Isolated and longing for home, Downing begins a decades-long journey to transform himself through music and performance. A reunion with his birth parents, whom he’s known only through story, closes more doors than it opens. Instead, Downing seeks refuge in increasingly extravagant musical personalities: “Mic Dainjah,” a boisterous punk rapper; “Molasses,” a soul crooner; and, finally, an eccentric dystopian-era pop star clad in leather and gold, “John Orpheus.” In his mid-thirties, increasingly addicted to escapism, attention, and sex, Downing realizes he has become a “Saga Boy”—a Trinidadian playboy archetype—like his father and grandfather before him. When his choices land him in a jail cell, Downing must face who he has become. “Lush language and sensory details make the fascinating events of this memoir pop. An authentic, entertaining, and timely account of a creative immigrant’s experiences.” —Booklist “Downing’s elegant, engaging memoir will have particular significance to readers from the Caribbean diaspora, but it will be understood by any reader who has ever had their world suddenly upended and needed to make it whole again.” —Library Journal “A rich memoir about how far some folks have to travel just to arrive where they began.” —Minneapolis Star Tribune
Download or read book Indian Horse written by Richard Wagamese and published by Milkweed Editions. This book was released on 2018-04-10 with total page 158 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A First Nations former hockey star looks back on his life as he undergoes treatment for alcoholism in this novel from the author of Dream Wheels. Saul Indian Horse is a child when his family retreats into the woods. Among the lakes and the cedars, they attempt to reconnect with half-forgotten traditions and hide from the authorities who have been kidnapping Ojibway youth. But when winter approaches, Saul loses everything: his brother, his parents, his beloved grandmother—and then his home itself. Alone in the world and placed in a horrific boarding school, Saul is surrounded by violence and cruelty. At the urging of a priest, he finds a tentative salvation in hockey. Rising at dawn to practice alone, Saul proves determined and undeniably gifted. His intuition and vision are unmatched. His speed is remarkable. Together they open doors for him: away from the school, into an all-Ojibway amateur circuit, and finally within grasp of a professional career. Yet as Saul’s victories mount, so do the indignities and the taunts, the racism and the hatred—the harshness of a world that will never welcome him, tied inexorably to the sport he loves. Spare and compact yet undeniably rich, Indian Horse is at once a heartbreaking account of a dark chapter in our history and a moving coming-of-age story. “Shocking and alien, valuable and true… A master of empathy.”—Jane Smiley, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Golden Age “A severe yet beautiful novel…. Indian Horse finds the granite solidity of Wagamese’s prose polished to a lustrous sheen; brisk, brief, sharp chapters propel the reader forward.”—Donna Bailey Nurse, National Post (Toronto)
Download or read book For Joshua written by Richard Wagamese and published by Milkweed+ORM. This book was released on 2020-04-14 with total page 118 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “An expansive work about healing, resilience, humanity, respect, inheritance, Indigenous teachings, and most of all, love” from the author of Indian Horse (Literary Hub). “We may not relight the fires that used to burn in our villages, but we can carry the embers from those fires in our hearts and learn to light new fires in a new world.” Ojibwe tradition calls for fathers to walk their children through the world, sharing the ancient understanding “that we are all, animate and inanimate alike, living on the one pure breath with which the Creator gave life to the Universe.” In this intimate series of letters to the six-year-old son from whom he was estranged, Richard Wagamese fulfills this traditional duty with grace and humility, describing his own path through life—separation from his family as a boy, substance abuse, incarceration, and ultimately the discovery of books and writing—and braiding this extraordinary story with the teachings of his people, in which animals were the teachers of human beings, until greed and a desire to control the more-than-human world led to anger, fear, and, eventually, profound alienation. At once a deeply moving memoir and a fascinating elucidation of a rich indigenous cosmology, For Joshua is an unforgettable journey. “Told lyrically and unflinchingly, For Joshua is both a letter of apology and another attempt at self-identification for the writer. A must-read for Wagamese fans, and a good primer for his novels.” —Minneapolis StarTribune “A well-written, introspective book on fatherhood and loss that will especially interest readers and students of First Nations life and literature.” —Library Journal
Download or read book Richard Wagamese Selected written by Richard Wagamese and published by Douglas & McIntyre. This book was released on 2021-09-17 with total page 164 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Richard Wagamese, one of Canada’s most celebrated Indigenous authors and storytellers, was a writer of breathtaking honesty and inspiration. Always striving to be a better, stronger person, Wagamese shared his journey through writing, encouraging others to do the same. Following the success of Embers, which has sold almost seventy thousand copies since its release in 2016, this new collection of Wagamese’s non-fiction works, with an introduction by editor Drew Hayden Taylor, brings together more of the prolific author’s short writings, many for the first time in print, and celebrates his ability to inspire. Drawing from Wagamese’s essays and columns, along with preserved social media and blog posts, this beautifully designed volume is a tribute to Wagamese’s literary legacy.
Download or read book The Eternal Audience of One written by Rémy Ngamije and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2022-06-14 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Reminiscent of Zadie Smith and Michael Chabon, this "gorgeous, wildly funny and, above all, profoundly moving and humane" (Peter Orner, author of Am I Alone Here) coming-of-age tale follows a young man who is forced to flee his homeland of Rwanda during the Civil War and make sense of his reality"--
Download or read book Barbie Chang written by Victoria Chang and published by Copper Canyon Press. This book was released on 2018-05-01 with total page 117 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "With astringent understatement and wry economy, with nuance and intelligence and an enviable command of syntax and poetic line, Victoria Chang dissects the venerable practices of cultural piety and self-regard. She is a master of the thumbnail narrative. She can wield a dark eroticism. She is determined to tackle subject matter that is not readily subdued to the proportions of lyric. Her talent is conspicuous."—Linda Gregerson "Chang's voice is equal parts searing, vulnerable, and terrified."—American Poets Barbie Chang, Victoria Chang explores racial prejudice, sexual privilege, and the disillusionment of love through a reimagining of Barbie—perfect in the cultural imagination yet repeatedly falling short as she pursues the American dream. This energetic string of linked poems is full of wordplay, humor, and biting social commentary involving the quote-unquote speaker, Barbie Chang, a disillusioned Asian-American suburbanite. By turns woeful and passionate, playful and incisive, these poems reveal a voice insisting that "even silence is not silent." From "Barbie Chang Lives": Barbie Chang lives on Facebook has a house on Facebook street so she can erase herself Facebook is a country with no trees it allows her to believe people love her don't want to cover her Barbie Chang . . . Victoria Chang is the author of three previous poetry books. In 2013, she won the PEN Center USA Literary Award and a California Book Award. Chang teaches poetry at Chapman University and lives in Southern California.
Download or read book Clinging to Bone written by Garry Gottfriedson and published by . This book was released on 2019 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "A collection of poems by Indigenous (Secwepemc (Shuswap)) author Garry Gottfriedson about the present-day situation of Indigenous people. Includes many First Nations stories about mythical characters. Much about the challenges faced by Indigenous people today."--
Download or read book Planning to Stay written by William R. Morrish and published by . This book was released on 2000 with total page 132 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This practical guide encourages members of a community to assess the place they live and take control of its development. Moorish is the director of the Design Center for American Landscape at the University of Minnesota. 35 color, 95 b&w photos.
Download or read book A Soft Place to Fall written by Tanya Christenson and published by . This book was released on 2021-11-15 with total page 480 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When he was five years old, Creighton's mother left. He and his father know she has started a career as a singer but not much more than that. Dad's work with a carnival means they have not set down roots anywhere for long and as a result Creighton does not have a formal education. When they finally settle in a small town, Creighton is 14 years old. When he starts school there he is placed in an alternate school -- which it turns out is a place for losers -- kids who struggle with learning. Gradually Creighton meets other kids in his new school -- like Schooner who can't read but has his own kind of wisdom and Carin who was a victim of sexual assault when she was thirteen. There is one teacher at the school who truly cares about the students and who encourages their hopes for the future. But when she announces she is leaving at the end of the year, the students feel abandoned. School becomes irrelevant and the students are left to fend for themselves. How will they manage to survive in spite of all the personal disasters that challenge them.
Download or read book Alberta Elders Cree Dictionary alperta Ohci Kehtehayak Nehiyaw Otwestam kewasinahikan written by Nancy LeClaire and published by University of Alberta. This book was released on 1998-12 with total page 606 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cree is the most widespread native language in Canada. The Alberta Elders' Cree Dictionary is a highly usable and effective dictionary that serves students, business, governments, and media. Designed for speakers, students, and teachers of Cree; includes Cree-English and English-Cree sections.
Download or read book A Season in Chezgh un written by Darrel J. McLeod and published by Douglas & McIntyre. This book was released on 2023-10-07 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A subversive novel by acclaimed Cree author Darrel J. McLeod, infused with the contradictory triumph and pain of finding conventional success in a world that feels alien. James, a talented and conflicted Cree man from a tiny settlement in Northern Alberta, has settled into a comfortable middle-class life in Kitsilano, a trendy neighbourhood of Vancouver. He is living the life he had once dreamed of—travel, a charming circle of sophisticated friends, a promising career and a loving relationship with a caring man—but he chafes at being assimilated into mainstream society, removed from his people and culture. The untimely death of James’s mother, his only link to his extended family and community, propels him into a quest to reconnect with his roots. He secures a job as a principal in a remote northern Dakelh community but quickly learns that life there isn’t the fix he’d hoped it would be: His encounters with poverty, cultural disruption and abuse conjure ghosts from his past that drive him toward self-destruction. During the single year he spends in northern BC, James takes solace in the richness of the Dakelh culture—the indomitable spirit of the people, and the splendour of nature—all the while fighting to keep his dark side from destroying his life.
Download or read book Me Tomorrow written by Drew Hayden Taylor and published by Douglas & McIntyre. This book was released on 2021-10-30 with total page 186 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First Nations, Métis and Inuit artists, activists, educators and writers, youth and elders come together to envision Indigenous futures in Canada and around the world. Discussing everything from language renewal to sci-fi, this collection is a powerful and important expression of imagination rooted in social critique, cultural experience, traditional knowledge, activism and the multifaceted experiences of Indigenous people on Turtle Island. In Me Tomorrow... Darrel J. McLeod, Cree author from Treaty-8 territory in Northern Alberta, blends the four elements of the Indigenous cosmovision with the four directions of the medicine wheel to create a prayer for the power, strength and resilience of Indigenous peoples. Autumn Peltier, Anishinaabe water-rights activist, tells the origin story of her present and future career in advocacy—and how the nine months she spent in her mother’s womb formed her first water teaching. When the water breaks, like snow melting in the spring, new life comes. Lee Maracle, acclaimed Stó:lō Nation author and educator, reflects on cultural revival—imagining a future a century from now in which Indigenous people are more united than ever before. Other essayists include Cyndy and Makwa Baskin, Norma Dunning, Shalan Joudry, Shelley Knott-Fife, Tracie Léost, Stephanie Peltier, Romeo Saganash, Drew Hayden Taylor and Raymond Yakeleya. For readers who want to imagine the future, and to cultivate a better one, Me Tomorrow is a journey through the visions generously offered by a diverse group of Indigenous thinkers.
Download or read book Broken Circle written by Theodore Niizhotay Fontaine and published by Heritage House Publishing Co. This book was released on 2022-05-24 with total page 190 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A new commemorative edition of Theodore Fontaine's powerful, groundbreaking memoir of survival and healing after years of residential school abuse. Originally published in 2010, Broken Circle: The Dark Legacy of Indian Residential Schools chronicles the impact of Theodore Fontaine’s harrowing experiences at Fort Alexander and Assiniboia Indian Residential Schools, including psychological, emotional, and sexual abuse; disconnection from his language and culture; and the loss of his family and community. Told as remembrances infused with insights gained through his long healing process, Fontaine goes beyond the details of the abuse that he suffered to relate a unique understanding of why most residential school survivors have post-traumatic stress disorders and why succeeding generations of Indigenous children suffer from this dark chapter in history. With a new foreword by Andrew Woolford, professor of sociology and criminology at the University of Manitoba, this commemorative edition will continue to serve as a powerful testament to survival, self-discovery, and healing.
Download or read book Spoken Cree written by Clarence Douglas Ellis and published by . This book was released on 1975 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
