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The Debwe Series
The Stone Collection
In the Anishnaabe language and worldview, stones are alive, infused with life force or spirit. Although many of the stories are about loss, under that surface they are alive, celebrating the beauty and preciousness of life. —Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm
In these 14 unique stories, Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm takes on complex and dangerous emotions, exploring the gamut of modern Anishinaabe experience. Through unforgettable characters, these stories—about love and lust, suicide and survival, illness and wholeness—illuminate the strange workings of the human heart.
The Stone Collection is one title in The Debwe Series.
In these 14 unique stories, Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm takes on complex and dangerous emotions, exploring the gamut of modern Anishinaabe experience. Through unforgettable characters, these stories—about love and lust, suicide and survival, illness and wholeness—illuminate the strange workings of the human heart.
The Stone Collection is one title in The Debwe Series.
150 pages, Paperback
First published October 15, 2015
4 people are currently reading
484 people want to read
About the author
Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm
16 books55 followersKateri Akiwenzie-Damm (she/her/hers) is a writer, poet, spoken-word performer, librettist, and activist from the Saugeen Ojibway Nation, as well as an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing, Indigenous Literatures and Oral Traditions at the University of Toronto. She is the founder and Managing Editor of Kegedonce Press which was established in 1993 to publish the work of Indigenous creators. Kateri has written two books of poetry, was a contributor to the graphic novel anthology This Place: 150 Years Retold, was editor of the award-winning Skins: Contemporary Indigenous Writing, and has also released two poetry and music CDs. Kateri's work has been published internationally, and she has performed and spoken around the world. (Re)Generation: The Poetry of Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm, a book of collected poems, edited by Dallas Hunt, will be released this year by Wilfrid Laurier Press.
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
May 1, 2022
My last read of April, the latest book of short stories included in the Indigenous Reading Circle - I really enjoyed the voice in the stories, and quite a bit of internal dialogue, something I've learned I like when done well.
October 24, 2019
The Stone Collection by Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm is one of the better short story collections I've read. I'm a bit picky with collections and find them hard to rare and review because there are usually a few really great stories...and thsn many mediocre ones. But in The Stone Collection, I felt a range of emotions from the skin-prickly eerie truths delivered in harrowing stories of missing and murdered indigenous women, violence, and poverty. As well as the warm fuzzies from beautiful stories of love, friendship, and loyalty. There were a few stories that I won't remember, but many that touched me at least in the moment. "Chloe" will haunt me.
Some stories didn't work as well as others, but that's to be expected. On the other hand, a few of the stories ("The Stone Eater", "Calcified Horses", "Mashkii-akii", and especially "Chloe") were so hard-hitting I had to put the book down and take deep breaths while reading. Biting, cutting, wailing prose. Akiwenzie-Damm does not coddle her readers or soften her depiction of the various struggles of indigenous peoples in her stories. And she doesn't stay on all the pain and harshness either. There are stories with love, tenderness, and humour. Yes, indigenous people in Canada experience more than their fair share of suffering and oppression and her stories show this in stark reality. But also the beauty, simplicity, and excellence of healthy indigenous relationships. Mother and son, lovers, grandmothers to children. She showcases and celebrates the kindness and gentle understanding exist in these characters' bones and traditions.
I would recommend this short story collection for anyone interested in indigenous literature, inter-generational trauma from the colonial project, and fans of short, but punchy characterization and beautiful, spare prose.
Some stories didn't work as well as others, but that's to be expected. On the other hand, a few of the stories ("The Stone Eater", "Calcified Horses", "Mashkii-akii", and especially "Chloe") were so hard-hitting I had to put the book down and take deep breaths while reading. Biting, cutting, wailing prose. Akiwenzie-Damm does not coddle her readers or soften her depiction of the various struggles of indigenous peoples in her stories. And she doesn't stay on all the pain and harshness either. There are stories with love, tenderness, and humour. Yes, indigenous people in Canada experience more than their fair share of suffering and oppression and her stories show this in stark reality. But also the beauty, simplicity, and excellence of healthy indigenous relationships. Mother and son, lovers, grandmothers to children. She showcases and celebrates the kindness and gentle understanding exist in these characters' bones and traditions.
I would recommend this short story collection for anyone interested in indigenous literature, inter-generational trauma from the colonial project, and fans of short, but punchy characterization and beautiful, spare prose.
February 8, 2018
Reading these short stories is like looking through a window of a slow moving train, sharp glimpses that go deep into an unfamiliar world before moving on. K A-D brings it up close and personal, not very comfortable. She captures the grief and the pain, flashes of fierce joy, glimpses of old wisdom.
The story near the end of the book, Chloe, is a heartbreaking masterpiece.
We both know it is not okay. That it will never be okay... if ..she ever does return it'd be in pieces, even if she is still breathing.....The losses will continue to pile up. No good will ever come of it. p149
The story near the end of the book, Chloe, is a heartbreaking masterpiece.
We both know it is not okay. That it will never be okay... if ..she ever does return it'd be in pieces, even if she is still breathing.....The losses will continue to pile up. No good will ever come of it. p149
May 13, 2019
A new favorite! ❤️
I've read Kateri Akiwenzie Damm's poetry quite intensively the last few years, and I really love her poetry for many reasons.
I've been wanting to read her short stories for quite a while, although I was also a bit wary of it, afraid to be disappointed. Turns out I didn't have to be. The stories in The Stone Collection are each like a stone: 'clutching it in your palm, you feel its energy pulsing into your flesh, and it becomes part of your memory, your mind memory, skin memory, muscle memory'. They are each a unique pebble that you pick from the beach because they are different from the rest, because they are singular yet related.
I absolutely love The Stone Collection. Just as I love Damm's poetry.
I've read Kateri Akiwenzie Damm's poetry quite intensively the last few years, and I really love her poetry for many reasons.
I've been wanting to read her short stories for quite a while, although I was also a bit wary of it, afraid to be disappointed. Turns out I didn't have to be. The stories in The Stone Collection are each like a stone: 'clutching it in your palm, you feel its energy pulsing into your flesh, and it becomes part of your memory, your mind memory, skin memory, muscle memory'. They are each a unique pebble that you pick from the beach because they are different from the rest, because they are singular yet related.
I absolutely love The Stone Collection. Just as I love Damm's poetry.
January 24, 2016
Favourite line: "The day dawned as clear and bright as a squirrel's eye"
March 29, 2017
“We’re all relations you know. We got that blood, that same blood. Remember that. And remember the land don’t belong to anybody. We belong to her.”
The Debwe Series features Indigenous writing by authors in Canada. The Stone Collection has stories are about the modern day Anishinaabe. There is loss, violence, death, and stones. Stones that are full of spirit. The horror that happens to an old woman, who is like a grandmother to all the children is strange, and the suicide attempt isn’t the point in Justin Root’s tale- it’s what led him there. Salvation could be the earth, in a tree’s ‘weakness’. Some of the stories didn’t hold my attention and then I would read one that moved me. The story Chloe made me think about houses all over the world, the ones you stay away from, the poor children that are trapped in them and the world turns a blind eye to. I thought too about the men who ‘make your hair stand on end’. Men who have access to children, be them their fathers, stepfather, etc. A brother who is looking for his sister he wasn’t strong enough to leave with, knowing she may have come to a terrible end. It’s a story the traverses all cultures, isn’t it? It’s a fast read and was a break from the short stories I’ve read lately. There is a taste of a different culture I knew nothing about. Stories about life on and off the rez. My favorite was Mashkii- akii because sometimes it’s beautiful to be saved by something outside yourself, like a tree.
Available Now
Portage & Main Press
HighWater Press
The Debwe Series features Indigenous writing by authors in Canada. The Stone Collection has stories are about the modern day Anishinaabe. There is loss, violence, death, and stones. Stones that are full of spirit. The horror that happens to an old woman, who is like a grandmother to all the children is strange, and the suicide attempt isn’t the point in Justin Root’s tale- it’s what led him there. Salvation could be the earth, in a tree’s ‘weakness’. Some of the stories didn’t hold my attention and then I would read one that moved me. The story Chloe made me think about houses all over the world, the ones you stay away from, the poor children that are trapped in them and the world turns a blind eye to. I thought too about the men who ‘make your hair stand on end’. Men who have access to children, be them their fathers, stepfather, etc. A brother who is looking for his sister he wasn’t strong enough to leave with, knowing she may have come to a terrible end. It’s a story the traverses all cultures, isn’t it? It’s a fast read and was a break from the short stories I’ve read lately. There is a taste of a different culture I knew nothing about. Stories about life on and off the rez. My favorite was Mashkii- akii because sometimes it’s beautiful to be saved by something outside yourself, like a tree.
Available Now
Portage & Main Press
HighWater Press
September 30, 2025
2.5 stars
I'm glad I read this collection even though the writing wasn't really for me. Most of the stories were just okay, but a few stood out to me (aka made me cry a bit):
It's Not So Much
Mashkii-akii
Chloe
I appreciate how the author threaded mentions of stones throughout each story and the themes and topics tackled, such as finding love, family (especially sibling and grandparent/grandchild relationships in various forms), domestic (and child) abuse, suicide, addiction, illness, survival, and hope in the face of tragedy/trauma. It's a heavy collection but if the writing works better for you than me, one worth checking out.
I'm glad I read this collection even though the writing wasn't really for me. Most of the stories were just okay, but a few stood out to me (aka made me cry a bit):
It's Not So Much
Mashkii-akii
Chloe
I appreciate how the author threaded mentions of stones throughout each story and the themes and topics tackled, such as finding love, family (especially sibling and grandparent/grandchild relationships in various forms), domestic (and child) abuse, suicide, addiction, illness, survival, and hope in the face of tragedy/trauma. It's a heavy collection but if the writing works better for you than me, one worth checking out.
September 19, 2018
I am grateful to have read this collection of stories. Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm allows us into a world that some of us might not have experience with. Perspective shifts happened reading these beautiful, sometimes hard to read, stories.
March 15, 2019
MY THOUGHTS:
I received this book in exchange for my honest review.
Another book in the Debwe series. This too is a quick read. This book made me feel a full range of emotions. Often I found the stories very funny and then BAM! The next would hit me right between the eyes. I adored the author’s voice and give great kudos for being able to draw emotional reactions from the reader.
This book also showed a bleaker side to life. Although a bit low on the emotional scale, it did end with me hating the book but actually reflecting on myself, my life, my purpose. Again, Kudos to author. There were times that the stories just broke my heart, such as Chloe.
There’s a lot of aspects to the story collected in “The Stone Collection.” There’s love, lust, suicide and survival. You read about illness and wholeness and all tug at the heart-strings. I appreciated the wit and charm of the stories and the strength of love displayed.
You’ll enjoy the journey.
I received this book in exchange for my honest review.
Another book in the Debwe series. This too is a quick read. This book made me feel a full range of emotions. Often I found the stories very funny and then BAM! The next would hit me right between the eyes. I adored the author’s voice and give great kudos for being able to draw emotional reactions from the reader.
This book also showed a bleaker side to life. Although a bit low on the emotional scale, it did end with me hating the book but actually reflecting on myself, my life, my purpose. Again, Kudos to author. There were times that the stories just broke my heart, such as Chloe.
There’s a lot of aspects to the story collected in “The Stone Collection.” There’s love, lust, suicide and survival. You read about illness and wholeness and all tug at the heart-strings. I appreciated the wit and charm of the stories and the strength of love displayed.
You’ll enjoy the journey.
December 1, 2022
Evocative and moving… when I understood what was going on. Worth the read for sure
April 30, 2022
4.5, I wish we could give half or quarter stars.
So much in this collection; strong characters, raw emotion. Beautiful stories.
It was at that moment, as he was plunging through the night sky, that he wondered if he had loved someone incapable of loving him back, because ultimately he was the one who was incapable of true love.
So much in this collection; strong characters, raw emotion. Beautiful stories.
It was at that moment, as he was plunging through the night sky, that he wondered if he had loved someone incapable of loving him back, because ultimately he was the one who was incapable of true love.
February 22, 2018
Poetic, enigmatic, wickedly funny, and at times heart-breaking. I'll be looking up others by this author. A quick tag of short stories, and I went back to read a number of them a second time since it was so short.
August 13, 2022
“The Stone Collection,” Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm’s book of short stories is a thoughtful and often poignant read. Her characters have a lot of depth held in those few pages of each story and the reader is held captive in their thoughts, desires, and dreams. Akiwenzie-Damm doesn’t shy away from difficult subject matter, with some unsettling stories and references, but balances these stories with love, care, and commection - each story, a stone, carefully placed, a world held within but complementing the others.
August 27, 2023
This book was hauntingly beautiful, as expected from Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm. It was dark and light in all of the best ways.
Vanessa and I began reading it together during bedtime-booktime 14 months ago. We have read stories here and there. The prose is rich and redolent of Indigenous pain, so we rarely read more than one story in a sitting and often took several sittings to finish one story.
I am full of melancholy and also love, having just finished this book.
Vanessa and I began reading it together during bedtime-booktime 14 months ago. We have read stories here and there. The prose is rich and redolent of Indigenous pain, so we rarely read more than one story in a sitting and often took several sittings to finish one story.
I am full of melancholy and also love, having just finished this book.
May 1, 2022
I loved this collection. There's feeling and love and humor here. Some of the stories were harder to read and were more poignant and emotional. And some were just day-to-day moment of life stories. I can tell that she's a poet - there's a lot of beautiful language here. And I love the bits of Anishinaabemowin thrown in. It was quick to read too - I'll probably pick up again.
July 12, 2021
This was a great collection of unique short stories - many of them heartbreaking, while others were beautiful and poetic. Kateri tackles topics like MMIWG and suicide rates among indigenous youth, among other short stories of love, lust and dreams. I was most impressed by the authors ability to create such emotional and thought-provoking stories in the span of just a few pages.
March 5, 2022
I often rate books viscerally, a response to another human voice that I associate with Rumi's meeting in the field, where "even the phrase each other doesn't make any sense." This is one of those ratings. Unfortunately, Goodreads limits my rating to 5 stars.
May 31, 2022
An enlightening and at times humorous collection of stories that testify to the lived experiences and challenges on the rez. Remarkable being a collection of short stories it reads like a memoir. Recommend it!
December 19, 2017
The lives and loves of Anishinaabe people. Don't miss the heartbreaking story of Chloe, a reality for the families of missing and murdered Indigenous women.
July 11, 2020
3.5 stars, rounded to 3
February 28, 2023
Beautifully written in the humour and the heartbreak. A really well done collection of stories.
September 25, 2023
Short stories. Indigenous. Good variety.
May 17, 2022
📚 The Stone Collection by Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm 📚
The April book for @indigenousreadingcircle was a hard-hitting story collection. I noticed that almost every story (maybe each one?) mentioned stones at one point or another.
The stories are varied in length and perspective. Many are sad and leave the reader thinking about hard truths. I really liked this collection and I was mostly joking when I shared in my stories that I would need a happy book next. I think it was my own fault for reading this, Somebody's Daughter, and Dog Flowers all in a row. Whew!
The collection is very somber and introspective bringing up themes of addiction, mental health struggles, murder, homelessness, MMIGW, abuse, and child loss.
There are a few stories sprinkled in (at just the right place in my opinion) that are a bit lighter - the humor of The Day I Learned To Fly was very welcome, and the hopefulness of Touching The Sky was a nice ending. The epilogue was bittersweet after that.
The April book for @indigenousreadingcircle was a hard-hitting story collection. I noticed that almost every story (maybe each one?) mentioned stones at one point or another.
The stories are varied in length and perspective. Many are sad and leave the reader thinking about hard truths. I really liked this collection and I was mostly joking when I shared in my stories that I would need a happy book next. I think it was my own fault for reading this, Somebody's Daughter, and Dog Flowers all in a row. Whew!
The collection is very somber and introspective bringing up themes of addiction, mental health struggles, murder, homelessness, MMIGW, abuse, and child loss.
There are a few stories sprinkled in (at just the right place in my opinion) that are a bit lighter - the humor of The Day I Learned To Fly was very welcome, and the hopefulness of Touching The Sky was a nice ending. The epilogue was bittersweet after that.
September 10, 2017
This book is beautiful in every sense of the word. The prose is wonderful - at times haunting or funny - but never lacking in emotion. Through Akiwenzie-Damm's words, we get to see glimpses into many different people's lives. The only thing they each have in common is their Anishinaabe identity.
It's difficult for me to find the words to describe the experience I had reading The Stone Collection so I'm just going to leave you with some of my favorite lines from it.
It's difficult for me to find the words to describe the experience I had reading The Stone Collection so I'm just going to leave you with some of my favorite lines from it.
"She is one of those people whose movements speak very strongly, very clearly even when you aren't yet capable of fully understanding."
"Long ago, she'd believed she'd only ever have Anishnaabe lovers. She didn't want children who were caught between two worlds the way she had been. Called a 'non-Status Indian.' Not her kids. No way. She wanted to be able to give them that much at least. But love is not so rational. It doesn't give a damn about racist legislation, Indian Acts, Band Membership, or Treaty Rights. And lust is even less judicious."
"I've always been won over by that smile of his. If he wanted to I'm sure he could seduce the stars down from the sky."
March 24, 2023
This is a collection of stories told in a variety of different viewpoints from Native perspectives. I really enjoyed this book that told a variety of stories in which most were a mix of sweet, heartbreaking and eye opening.
I highly recommend checking this book out.
Trigger warnings: death, attempted suicide, drug use, abuse, missing kids, generational trauma, brief mentions of war and homelessness
I highly recommend checking this book out.
Trigger warnings: death, attempted suicide, drug use, abuse, missing kids, generational trauma, brief mentions of war and homelessness
November 16, 2020
I loved this book and found myself bursting out in laughter one moment and then feeling completely the opposite in the next moment- it really was an emotional rollercoaster throughout. Beautiful imagery and very poetic - each story is it's own little world.
December 28, 2022
A lot of really poignant and searing stories that stuck with me. I appreciate the succinct and conciseness of each story; nothing was overdone or too in the weeds.
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews