I (Athena)

by Ruth DyckFehderau

Now she's out of the institution, awkward and bookish, and learning to integrate with mainstream society where nothing works quite like she thinks it should. Athena researches her past, trying to understand why she was institutionalized in the first place and why the people looking after her made such a huge mistake. At the same time, she tries to find a way to live with the man who was her lover in the institution, uncovering all sorts of surprises along the way.

342 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 1, 2023

About the author

Ruth DyckFehderau grew up on a farm in Southern Ontario. She holds degrees from Universities of Alberta (’01 PhD, '95 MA) and Winnipeg (’91 BA). She has lived in many places and has travelled widely. These days, she is writing nonfiction books with the James Bay Cree of Northern Quebec, and she sometimes teaches Creative Writing and English Lit at the University of Alberta where she is an Adjunct Professor. She does quite a bit of public speaking, has published many short works in literary journals and anthologies, and has received awards for writing, for teaching, and for activism. She lives in Edmonton with her partner. She is hearing-impaired.

Ruth has written three books. I (Athena) was released by NeWest Press in April, 2023. E nâtamukw miyeyimuwin: Residential School Recovery Stories of the James Bay Cree, Volume One, nonfiction, written with James Bay Cree storytellers, was released in March, 2023. The Sweet Bloods of Eeyou Istchee: Stories of Diabetes and the James Bay Cree (2017), nonfiction, also written with James Bay Cree storytellers, is now in Second Edition (2020) and is being translated into Northern East Cree, Southern East Cree, Ojibwe, French, and excerpts into Chinese.