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Spotlight on: 2024/25 Selected Titles
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Walking Together
by Albert Marshall
Steeped in Etuaptmumk, the gift of multiple perspectives, and the Mi'kmaw concept of Netukulimk, protecting Mother Earth past, present and future, this inventive picture book follows a group of young children as they connect to nature as their teacher.
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The Rainbow, the Midwife & the Birds: Four Dene Tales
by Raymond Yakeleya
The book contains four Dene stories, as told by Raymond Yakeleya. "Flight Through the Rainbow" is about flying through a rainbow in a small plane and experiencing multi-sensations of colour. It also tells the legend of the spider and how its web catches raindrops that create the rainbow. "The Midwife and the Spirit of Life," dedicated to Raymond's Granny Harriet Gladue, is about the birth of babies and bringing their spirits into the world. "The Slingshot and the Songbird" is about a boy's sadness over killing a friendly songbird. "The Medicine Brothers and the Giant Birds" is a tale told to Raymond by his uncle George Blondin about the hazards of giant animals when the world was new. The book also contains Dene language translation throughout.
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Suliewey
by Mi'sel Joe
The Sequel to My Indian continues the story of Mi'kmaw guide Sylvester Joe, whose traditional name is Suliewey, as he seeks out the last remaining Beothuk community. In My Indian, Sylvester was hired by William Cormack in 1822 to guide him across Newfoundland in search of Beothuk encampments. In fact, he followed the advice of his Elders and guided Cormack away from the Beothuk. In this sequel, having parted ways with Cormack at St. George's Bay, Sylvester decides to go out on his own in search of the winter camp of the last of the remaining Beothuk. Written as fiction by two Mi'kmaw authors, Suliewey: The Sequel to My Indian supports Mi'kmaw oral history of friendly relationships with the Beothuk. The novel reclaims the settler narrative that the Beothuk and the Mi'kmaq of Newfoundland were enemies and represents an existing kinship between the Mi'kmaq and the Beothuk. Rich in oral history, the descriptions of traditional ceremonies and sacred medicines, the use of Mi'kmaw language, and the teachings of two-spirit place readers on the land and embed them in the strong relationships described throughout the book.
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Lháu'áaáan Mãan Keyâi daân kwâanje náaáatsat: Kluane Lake Country People Speak Strong
by Kluane First Nation
With generosity, diligence and deep commitment to their community, Elders from Lḫ'̉̉n Ḿn Keyi (Kluane First Nation) recorded oral histories about their lives in the southwest Yukon. They shared wisdom, stories and songs passed down from grandparents, aunties and uncles, in Dań kʼe (Southern Tutchone, Kluane dialect) and English. This years-long project arose from the Elders' desire for their children and future generations to know the foundations of language, culture, skills and beliefs that will keep them proud, healthy and strong. The Elders speak of life before the Alaska Highway, when their grandparents drew on thousands of years of traditional knowledge to live on the land through seasonal rounds of hunting and gathering; the dark years after the building of the Alaska Highway, when children were taken away to residential schools and hunting grounds were removed to form the Kluane Game Preserve and National Park; and the decades since, when the community worked through the Yukon land claims process to establish today's self-governing First Nation. Inclusivity is a key community value. The Elders' stories are accompanied by the voices of youth and citizens of all ages, along with a history of the Kluane region. The book is beautifully illustrated with Elders' photographs, historical images and art work, and photos showing breathtaking views of Kluane mountains, lakes, sites, trails, and activities in the community today. With passionate and deeply informed voices, this is a stirring portrait created by a community that has shown resilience through massive changes and remains dedicated to preserving their culture, language and lands for the generations to come.
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Hold Your Tongue
by Matthew Tétreault
Upon learning his great-uncle Alfred has suffered a stroke, Richard sets out for Ste. Anne, in southeastern Manitoba, to find his father and tell him the news. Waylaid by memories of his stalled romance, tales of run-ins with local Mennonites, his job working a honey wagon, and struck by visions of Métis history and secrets of his family's past, Richard confronts his desires to leave town, even as he learns to embrace his heritage.
Evoking an oral storytelling epic that weaves together one family's complex history, Hold Your Tongue asks what it means to be Métis and francophone. Recalling the work of Katherena Vermette and Joshua Whitehead, Matthew Tétreault's debut novel shines with a poignant, but playful character-driven meditation on the struggles of holding onto "la langue," and marks the emergence of an important new voice.
The Creator:
Matthew Tétreault is French-Métis from the Ste. Anne area of Manitoba. He is the author of What Happened on the Bloodvein (Pemmican Publications, 2015), a collection of short stories.
He recently completed a PhD in Métis literature and literary history in the Department of English and Film Studies at the University of Alberta. He lived in Edmonton for 7 years. He currently lives in Winnipeg, Manitoba, with his wife, daughter, in-laws, and his old cat, Major Tom. Hold Your Tongue is his first novel.
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Elements
by Jamesie Fournier
In this complex, at times dark, poetry collection from Inuk author Jamesie Fournier, readers are taken through the recesses of a character struggling with inner demons whispering into his mind. As he attempts to overcome his inner turmoil within a Colonial and contemporary system that oppresses him, the speaker guides readers through verse both ethereal and imagistic. Echoing artists as varied as Margaret Laurence and The Velvet Underground, this sweeping collection of bilingual verse deals with erasure, resilience, and--above all--resistance through the voice of one complex protagonist.
The Creator:
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Early Days: Indigenous Art from the McMichael
by Bonnie Devine (Editor and Artist) and Sarah Milroy (Editor and Curator)
A landmark publication bringing together more than seventy voices illuminating the rich array of Indigenous art held by the McMichael Canadian Art Collection.
Under the editorial direction of Anishinaabe artist and scholar Bonnie Devine, Early Days gathers the insights of myriad Indigenous cultural stakeholders, informing us on everything from goose hunting techniques, to the history of Northwest Coast mask-making, to the emergence of the Woodland style of painting and printmaking, to the challenges of art making in the Arctic, to the latest developments in contemporary art by Indigenous peoples from across Turtle Island.
The Creators:
Bonnie Devine is an installation artist, educator, and writer. An off-reserve member of the Genaabaajing Anishinaabek (Serpent River First Nation) on the north shore of Lake Huron, Devine explores issues of land, environment, treaty, history, and narrative. Though she holds degrees from both the Ontario College of Art and Design University and York University, Devine's most enduring learning came from her grandparents, who were trappers on the Canadian Shield in Northern Ontario. In 2014 and 2015 she installed Battle for the Woodlands at the Art Gallery of Ontario. Her recent exhibitions include the touring show La Rabida, Soul of Conquest: an Anishinaabe encounter curated by the Art Gallery of Peterborough (2018-22), The Gift at the University of Michigan Museum of Art (2022), and From Water to Water: A Way Through the Trees at the McMichael Canadian Art Collection (2022-23).
Sarah Milroy is Chief Curator at the McMichael Canadian Art Collection. The former editor and publisher of Canadian Art magazine, she served as lead art critic of the Globe and Mail from 2001 to 2011. In 2014, she and Ian A.C. Dejardin curated From the Forest to the Sea: Emily Carr in British Columbia at Dulwich Picture Gallery, London, UK, followed by Vanessa Bell (2017) and David Milne: Modern Painting (2018). Since coming to the McMichael in 2018, Milroy has curated over twenty exhibitions, including Uninvited: Canadian Women Artists in the Modern Moment (2021-22), Generations: The Sobey Family and Canadian Art (2022), Dempsey Bob: In His Own Voice (with Curtis Collins) (2022-24), Wanda Koop: Lightworks (2022), Gathie Falk: Revelations (2022-24) and Rajni Perera: Futures (2022–24). Milroy was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada in 2020.
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Building a Nest from the Bones of My People
by Cara-lyn Morgan
Motherhood, trauma, and familial history are woven together into a powerful collection from the award-winning author of What Became My Grieving Ceremony. Beginning with a revelation of familial sexual abuse, Building a Nest from the Bones of My People charts the impact of this revelation on the speaker. From the pain of estrangement to navigating first-time motherhood in the midst of a family crisis, Morgan explores the complexities of generational and secondary abuse, intertwined as they are with the impacts of colonization.
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Adult/YA and Children's Selected 2024/2025 Titles
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And Then She Fell
by Alicia Elliott
When strange things start happening, Alice, a young Indigenous woman living in a posh Toronto neighborhood, starts losing bits of time and hearing voices she can't explain and discovers the picture-perfect life she's always hoped for may have horrifying consequences—and may be linked to the Haudenosaunee creation story.
The Creator:
Alicia Elliot is a Mohawk writer and editor living in Brantford, Ontario. She has written for The Globe and Mail, CBC, Hazlitt and many other publications. She's had numerous essays nominated for National Magazine Awards, winning Gold in 2017 and an honorable mention in 2020. Her short fiction was selected for The Best American Short Stories 2018 (by Roxane Gay), Best Canadian Stories 2018, and The Journey Prize Stories 30. Alicia was chosen by Tanya Talaga as the 2018 recipient of the RBC Taylor Emerging Writer Award. Her first book, A Mind Spread Out On The Ground, was a national bestseller in Canada. It was also nominated for the Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction and won the Forest of Reading Evergreen Award.
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Freddie the Flyer
by Fred Carmichael (Author), Danielle Metcalfe-Chenail (Author), and Audrea Loreen-Wulf (Artist)
When Freddie was young, he saw a plane up close for the first time when it dropped off supplies at his family's remote bush camp. He was instantly hooked. Freddie has flown for nearly seventy years, doing everything from supply runs to search and rescue to transporting dog teams to far-flung areas.
The Creators:
Frederick “Freddie” Carmichael split his childhood between the trapline and the town of Aklavik, Northwest Territories (NWT). He worked hard to become the first Indigenous commercial pilot in the Arctic, founded multiple aviation companies and has served the people of the Mackenzie Delta in the air and as a leader and Elder. Fred is a Member of the Order of Canada and Canada’s Aviation Hall of Fame, and he holds an Honorary Doctor of Laws from the University of Saskatchewan. Fred still flies his Cessna 170 from his home in Inuvik, NWT, where he lives with his wife, Miki, and their dog, Shadow.
Danielle Metcalfe-Chenail is a historian and a former Historian Laureate for the city of Edmonton, as well as a former president of the Canadian Aviation Historical Society. She has written For the Love of Flying: The Story of the Laurentian Air Services and Polar Winds: A Century of Flying the North, and edited In This Together: Fifteen Stories of Truth and Reconciliation. Her first book for children is Alis the Aviator. She lives in Edmonton, Alberta.
Artist Audrea Loreen-Wulf was born in the Tuktoyaktuk area and lived there as a young child. She now lives in Salmon Arm, BC. She expresses her deep love for the North through her paintings.
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