CanadianContent discussion

As part of my efforts to decolonize my own way of thinking, I've been making a conscious effort to read more books by Indigenous authors. Could be Canadian Indigenous authors, or Indigenous authors from anywhere in the world. Some great books I've read recently:

A Mind Spread out on the Ground, a memoir is essays by Alicia Elliott
The Reason You Walk, a memoir by Wab Kinew
One Native Life, and One Story One Song, both memoirs in essay by Richard Wagamese. These are probably the best memoirs I've ever read.
Unreconciled, a memoir by Jesse Wente
The Education of Augie Merasty: A Residential School Memoir, which is as tragic as its name suggests.
Halfbreed by Maria Campbell, which I first read as a teenager. I'm currently re-reading the updated edition because the original edition had scenes cut out of it where some pretty bad things happened to Campbell and, unbeknownst to her until after it was published, the publishers decided to leave these things out because they'd be too disturbing for readers. (Talk about patronizing.)

Coming up I plan to read Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer.

Although I'm hesitant to include The Inconvenient Indian by Thomas King after the recent revelation that he's not actually Indigenous, which he was led to believe by his family all his life and because he looks Indigenous, I still find this to be a fabulous and irreverent account of North American history from an Indigenous perspective. So chock full of information that I read it twice back to back because I didn't ant to miss too much.

To me this list should also include non-Indigenous authors who are writing well about Indigenous issues. For example, Highway of Tears: A True Story of Racism, Indifference and the Pursuit of Justice for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls by Jessica McDiarmid. It was a national bestseller in Canada. It was also published in the US and reviewed by the New York Times. I don't think it won any awards but it should have.

All of the ones I've listed are creative nonfiction, but there are some amazing Indigenous novelists too. Any novel by Richard Wagamese is bound to be fantastic. I've read Medicine Walk and Ragged Company.

I've been trying to educate myself as well, reading a mix of fiction and non-fiction the past couple of years -

Some TBR's
1. Secrets of Stone by Coltrane Seesequasis (YA / Fantasy)
2. The Strangers by Katherena Vermette (Fic)
3. A Gentle Habit by Cherie Dimaline (Short Stories)
4. Medicine Walk by Richard Wagamese (Fiction)
5. Split Tooth by Tanya Tagaq (Fiction / Poetry)
6. Ties that Bind: The Story of an Afro-Cherokee Family in Slavery and Freedom (this is an American story but sounded very powerful)

Read
1. Talk Treaty to Me by Crystal Gail Fraser (Non Fic)
2. Bad Indians Book Club by Patty Krawec (Non Fic, gave me other reading ideas)
3. The Moon duology by Waubgeshig Rice (Dys)
4. The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline (Dys)
5. Borders by Thomas King (Graphic / YA)
6. Sugar Falls, A Residential School Story by David A. Robertson (Graphic / Fic)
7. This Place: 150 Years Retold by Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm (History)

Anyway, a few more ideas for you maybe.