ABOUT OUR GUEST HOSTS

SEASON 3 EPISODE 3

Guest host David A. Robertson discussing children’s books by Indigenous writers.

DAVID A. ROBERTSON (he, him, his) was the 2021 recipient of the Writers’ Union of Canada Freedom to Read Award as well as the Globe and Mail Children’s Storyteller of the Year. He is the author of numerous books for young readers including When We Were Alone, which won the 2017 Governor General’s Literary Award and the McNally Robinson Best Book for Young People Award. The Barren Grounds, Book 1 of the middle-grade The Misewa Saga series, received a starred review from Kirkus, was a Kirkus and Quill & Quire best middle-grade book of 2020, was a USBBY and Texas Lone Star selection, was shortlisted for the Ontario Library Association’s Silver Birch Award, and was a finalist for the 2020 Governor General’s Literary Award. His memoir, Black Water: Family, Legacy, and Blood Memory, was a Globe and Mail and Quill & Quire book of the year in 2020, and won the Alexander Kennedy Isbister Award for Non-Fiction as well as the Carol Shields Winnipeg Book Award at the 2020 Manitoba Book Awards. On The Trapline, illustrated by Julie Flett, won David’s second Governor General’s Literary Award, won the TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award, and was named one of the best picture books of 2021 by the CCBC, The Horn Book, New York Public Library, Quill & Quire, and American Indians in Children’s Literature. Dave is the writer and host of the podcast Kíwew (Key-Way-Oh), winner of the 2021 RTDNA Praire Region Award for Best Podcast. His first adult fiction novel, The Theory of Crows, was published in 2022 and is a national bestseller. He is a member of Norway House Cree Nation and currently lives in Winnipeg.

SEASON 3 EPISODE 2

Guest host Geraldine King discussing Islands of Decolonial Love by Leanne Betasamosake Simpson.

Geraldine King (she/her/elle/kwe) is Anishinaabe and a member-citizen of Kiashke Zaaging Anishinaabek (Gull Bay First Nation) located in the Robinson Superior Treaty area of Northwestern Ontario. Geraldine is currently a PhD candidate in the cultural studies program at Queen’s University and completed her MA in Indigenous Governance at the University of Victoria. Prior to joining McGill, Geraldine was a Lecturer in the School of Canadian and Indigenous Studies at Carleton University where she helped advance Indigenous land-based education grounded in Indigenous communities. Geraldine’s doctoral work focusses on Anishinaabe erotics, ethics of intimacy, kinship studies and theories of Anishinaabe phenomenology.

In Fall 2022, the Office of Indigenous Initiatives and the Department of Integrated Studies in Education welcomed Geraldine to the McGill community. As the Senior Advisor, Indigenous Curriculum and Pedagogy. Prof. King will provide strategic advice to individual faculty and academic leaders across the university with the goal of supporting meaningful and respectful relations with Indigenous communities, peoples, knowledges, and epistemologies. Prof. King will also hold an Assistant Professor position in the Department of Integrated Studies in Education (DISE) in the Faculty of Education where she will focus on developing and delivering land-based education.

As an active leader in her First Nation community, Geraldine has recently been elected to serve on Band Council and holds the education portfolio while leading the community in its Comprehensive Community Planning process. In her professional life, Geraldine is an expert consultant in Indigenous facilitation, education strategies, research design, policy development and Anishinaabe-centred strategic planning. Geraldine has been featured on popular podcasts such as the All My Relations Podcast and Auntie Up! where she shares humour and insights into Anishinaabeg life and governance.

JOSHUA WHITEHEAD

Joshua Whitehead

By Joshua Whitehead

2018 Jonny Appleseed. Arsenal Pulp Press

2017 full-metal indigiqueer. Talonbooks

2020 Love after the End: An Anthology of Two-Spirit and Indigiqueer Speculative Fiction. Editor Talonbooks

Essays

Creative Pieces

Reviews

SEASON 2 EPISODE 12

Guest host Joshua Whitehead discussing Nishgaa by Jordan Abel.

Joshua Whitehead is an Oji-Cree, Two-Spirit member of Peguis First Nation (Treaty 1). He is the author of full-metal indigiqueer (Talonbooks 2017), Jonny Appleseed (Arsenal Pulp Press 2018), the editor of Love after the End: an Anthology of Two-Spirit and Indigiqueer Speculative Fiction (Arsenal 2020) and most recently, Making Love with the Land (Knopf Canada 2022). He currently resides in Treaty 7 territory, Calgary, where he lives and teaches.

KATERI AKIWENZIE-DAMM

By Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm

• 1993 – 2003: My Heart is a Stray Bullet. Kegedonce Press
• 2000: Skins: Contemporary Indigenous Writing. (Editor) with Josie Douglas; Kegedonce Pres, co-published with Aboriginal Australian publisher, Jukurrpa Books
• 2003: Without Reservation: Indigenous Erotica. Kegedonce Press, co-published with Hula Publishers, Wellington, New Zealand
• 2006: with Warren Cariou, W’Daub Awae, Daniel Heath Justice, Lesley Belleau: Speaking True: A Kegedonce Press Anthology. 
• 2015: The Stone Collection, HighWater Press,
• 2019: ‘Nimkii’ in This Place: 150 Years Retold

SEASON 2 EPISODE 11

Guest Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm discussing storytelling, writing and supporting Indigenous authors through Kegedonce Press.

Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm is a member of the Saugeen Ojibway Nation, Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation, on the Saugeen Peninsula in Ontario. Kateri is a writer, poet, spoken word artist, Indigenous arts advocate, publisher, and Assistant Professor, Creative Writing, Indigenous Literatures and Oral Traditions at the University of Toronto, Scarborough. She has taught creative writing and Indigenous literatures at the University of Manitoba, the Banff Centre, and the En’owkin International School of Writing in partnership with the University of Victoria. Her publications include fiction, nonfiction, radio plays, television and film, libretti, a graphic novel, spoken word CDs, and two collections of poetry. Her teaching and creative work is firmly decolonial, a practice of cultural resurgence, affirmation and survivance. Kateri was a Nominee for the 2021 Ontario Arts Council Indigenous Arts Award and a recipient of a 2016 Hnatyshyn Foundation REVEAL Indigenous Arts Award for writing. Her 2015 book of short stories, The Stone Collection, was a finalist for the Sarton Literary Book Awards and received a coveted starred review from Publishers Weekly. Her collaborative recording A Constellation of Bones was a nominee for a 2008 Canadian Aboriginal Music Award. Kateri was the 2011-2012 Poet Laureate for Owen Sound and North Grey. She initiated and was a co-organizer of the first Indigenous Comics Symposium in 2021 and founded “Honouring Words: International Indigenous Authors Celebration Tour” and coordinated the first tour in 2003. Kateri is the founder and publisher of Kegedonce Press, Ontario’s longest-running Indigenous literary publisher. Kateri is currently finishing work on Reconciling the Books, her newest collection of poetry, and a collection of humourous short stories. 

SHALAN JOUDRY

By shalan joudry:

• Elapultiek (We are looking towards), play
• Generations Re-Emerging, poetry
• Waking Ground, poetry

SEASON 2 EPISODE 9

Guest host shalan joudry discussing Witness, I Am by Gregory Scofield.

shalan is a Mi’kmaw mother, poet, playwright, oral storyteller and ecologist. The author of three books, her most latest book of poetry is Waking Ground (2020). In addition to her writing, shalan uses her theatrical background to bring Mi’kmaw stories to a new generation of listeners, as well as recounting personally crafted narratives. shalan recently produced, wrote and performed her second play, a one-woman show, KOQM, staged at King’s Theatre (Annapolis Royal) Neptune Theatre (Halifax), Ship’s Company Theatre (Parrsboro) and coming to the Highland Arts Theatre (Sydney) this Fall. She lives in her home territory of Kespukwitk (southwest Nova Scotia) with her family in their community of L’sətkuk (Bear River First Nation) and is currently focusing on reclaiming Mi’kmaw/L’nu language.

BRANDON MITCHELL

By Brandon Mitchell:

Indigenous Story Studio stories:

• Lost Innocence
• Drawing Hope
• River Run
• Making it Right
• Emily’s Choice
• Tomorrow’s Hope

Contributing author:

• Migwite-tmeg: We Remember It

Author:

• Giju’s Gift

Writer and illustrator:

• Jean-Paul’s Daring Adventure: Stories from Old Mobile

SEASON 2 EPISODE 8

Guest host Brandon Mitchell discussing This Place: 150 Years Retold.

Brandon Mitchell is Mi’gmaq from Listuguj First Nations in Quebec and currently resides in the unceded Wolastoqiyik territory of Fredericton, New Brunswick. He is a husband to Natasha Martin and father to Brayden and Bryce Mitchell. He carries a Diploma in Animation and Design from the New Brunswick Community College of Miramichi and holds a master’s degree in Education from the University of New Brunswick.  He is the founder of Birch Bark Comics and creator of the Sacred Circles comic series, which explored his Mi’kmaq heritage through a contemporary lens. 
 
Brandon is also the creator and author of a new young readers series published by Highwater Press. In it, a Mi’kmaw girl battles an ancient giant and forms an unexpected friendship with a mythical creature. This is the first volume of an ongoing series of graphic novels inspired by traditional stories.
www.birchbarkcomics.com
@writerbrandonmitchell

SEASON 2 EPISODE 7

Guest host Ry Moran discussing Five Little Indians by Michelle Good

Ry Moran is Canada’s inaugural Associate University Librarian – Reconciliation at the University of Victoria. Ry’s role within UVic Libraries’ focuses on building and sustaining relationships to introduce Indigenous approaches and knowledge into the daily work of the Libraries and more broadly across the campus community. In so doing, Ry plays an active role in advancing UVic’s strategic goal of being a globally recognized leader in areas of reconciliation.

Ry came to this position from the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR) hosted by the University of Manitoba. As the founding director, Ry guided the creation of the NCTR from its inception. Along the way, Ry contributed to major national initiatives such as the creation of the National Student Memorial Register, designation of multiple residential schools as national historical sites, development and launch of the Indigenous Peoples Atlas of Canada, and a major educational broadcast which reached over three million Canadians.

Prior to the NCTR, Ry served with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC). On the TRC’s behalf, he facilitated the gathering of nearly 7,000 video/audio-recorded statements of former residential school students and millions of pages archival records.

Ry’s life-long passion for the arts and music continues to be an important part of his life as he continues to write and produce original music.

Ry is a distinguished alumni of the University of Victoria and was awarded a Meritorious Service Cross by the Governor General. Ry is a proud member of the Red River Métis.

SEASON 2 EPISODE 6

Guest host Lenny Carpenter discussing The Shoe Boy: A Trapline Memoir by Duncan McCue

Lenny Carpenter is an Omushkego (Swampy Cree) writer based in Timmins, Ont. He is a member of Attawapiskat First Nation raised in the James Bay community of Moosonee. Lenny has experience in journalism, primarily as a reporter and editor/publisher with Wawatay News covering First Nations in northern Ontario. He has experience in media development from when he was the Indigenous Reporters Program manager with Journalists for Human Rights. The program was aimed at increasing the number of Indigenous voices in Canadian media and educating non-Indigenous media on improving their coverage. Lenny is a graduate of the Film Production program at Confederation College and was the festival director of the B’iindigaate Indigenous Film Festival in 2013.

Lenny is currently a Gladue writer with Nishnawbe Aski Legal Services, producing Gladue reports for members of Nishnawbe Aski Nation communities facing sentencing.

SEASON 2 EPISODE 5

Guest Host Courtney Skye discussing A Mind Spread Out on the Ground by Alicia Elliott

Courtney has led policy development for the public sector at local, provincial, and national levels, with a specific focus on youth development and ending violence against Indigenous women, girls, and Two-Spirit people. Her work focuses on the promotion of the political mobilization of Indigenous women, Trans, non-Binary and Two-Spirit people to create transformational change in communities.

Her work focuses on re-imagining traditional approaches to policy development in order to meet the diverse needs of Indigenous communities. Her past projects include creating a framework for youth development, a strategy co-developed with Indigenous partners to transform the governance, design, and delivery of child and family services, and a strategy to end violence against Indigenous women.

Courtney is passionate about making sure communities are heard in policy development, and strives to end all forms of colonial violence experienced by Indigenous peoples by entrenching deep commitment to rights and jurisdiction.

RENELTTA ARLUK

Reneltta is a multi-award winning playwright, actor, writer and visionary. Some of her accomplisments:

• First Inuk woman to direct at Stratford and recipient of 2017 Tyrone Guthrie-Derek F. Mitchell Artistic Director’s Award
• 2008–founded Akpik Theatre
• creating spaces for Indigenous voices through What’s Your Story?
• Acting: Copper ThunderBIrd, Utopian Floes, Sila, The Woman Who Came Back, Maina and many others
• published writer and poet

SEASON 2 EPISODE 4

Guest host Reneltta Arluk discussing Tainna: The Unseen Ones by Norma Dunning.

Reneltta Arluk is Dene and Inuvialuit from the Northwest Territories. She is a graduate of the BFA-Acting program from the University of Alberta and founder of Akpik Theatre, a professional Indigenous Theatre company in the NWT. Raised by her grandparents on the trap-line until school age, being raised in a nomadic environment gave Reneltta the skills to become the artist she is now. For over ten years Reneltta has been part of or initiated the creation of Indigenous Theatre across various parts of Canada and overseas as an actor, storyteller, writer and producer. “Keeping Culture Alive,” as her mom would say. She is currently the Director of Indigenous Arts at the Banff Centre for the Arts.

CELIESE LYPKA

Celiese has published academic articles, book chapters, and edited special issues for journals on women’s literature, feminist and affect theory, and Indigenous storytelling and resurgence. 

• 1 edited collection
• 1 edited special issue
• 7 journal articles
• 2 book chapters
• A monograph in progress
• An edited collection on Métis literature in progress

SEASON 2 EPISODE 3

Guest host Celiese Lypka discussing Empire of Wild by Cherie Dimaline.

Celiese Lypka is a member of the Manitoba Métis Nation and lives in Treaty 1 territory, where she has spent most of her life and is now raising her wonderful and wild four-year-old daughter.

She is an Assistant Professor of English in the Centre for Humanities at Athabasca University, teaching women’s writing and Indigenous literatures. Her recent work focuses on Métis women’s storytelling as modes of Indigenous resurgence and decolonial love.

DREW HAYDEN TAYLOR

https://www.drewhaydentaylor.com/books/

Books by Drew Hayden Taylor

Better check out his web site. If we listed them all here, it would take up several pages!

• 16 published plays
• 6 non-fiction books
• 6 fiction books
• 5 edited collections
• …plus contributions to anthologies, articles, compilations, and columns

SEASON 2 EPISODE 2

Guest host Drew Hayden Taylor discussing Dry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing by Tomson Highway.

Drew Hayden Taylor is an award winning playwright, novelist, journalist and filmmaker. Born and living on the Curve Lake First Nation in Central Ontario, he has done practically everything from performing stand up comedy at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. to serving as the Artistic Director of Canada’s premiere Indigenous Theatre company, Native Earth Performing Arts. His 34th book, ME TOMORROW, has recently been released by Douglas and McIntyre, and his documentary series, GOING NATIVE, can bee seen on APTN.

SEASON 2 EPISODE 1

Guest Host Jaime Morse discussing The Strangers by Katherena Vermette.

Jaime Morse is Michif from northern Alberta and has lived on Anishnaabe Territory since 2000. Jaime is the owner of Indigenous Walks and works as an Educator – Indigenous Programs and Outreach at the National Gallery of Canada. Jaime is the mother to four beautiful children and passes on her knowledge of fish scale art, beading and Metis jigging.

Jaime grew up in Lac La Biche, Alberta.

LEELA GILDAY

Discography of Leela Gilday

• Spirit World, Solid Wood (2002)
• Sedzé (2006)
• Calling All Warriors (2010)
• Heart of the People (2014)
• North Star Calling (2019)

SEASON 1 EPISODE 9

Guest Host Leela Gilday discussing The Lesser Blessed by Richard Van Camp.

If you’re from the North, Leela Gilday’s music is home. If you’ve never been, it will take you there. Born and raised in the Northwest Territories, she writes about the people and the land that created her. The power in her voice conveys the depth of her feelings of love and life in a rugged environment and vibrant culture, as if it comes straight from that earth. Leela’s family is from Délįne on the shore of Great Bear Lake and her rich vocals dance across the rhythmic beats of traditional Dene drumming as smoothly as a bass line onstage the largest venues in the country. And she has played them all. 

Leela has toured festivals and concert halls with her four-piece band through every province and territory in Canada. She has played in the United States, Greenland, Australia, New Zealand and several countries in Europe. Her live shows are where she connects with fans who have followed her on a 20-year career and where new fans are born. She reaches into their hearts and feels the energy of every person in front of her as she guides them on a journey through song and experience. She believes music has an inexplicable effect on people. It is a place where she can share light and dark and the most vulnerable moments, with a clarity and genuine purpose that reassures her listeners through every word. She is a storyteller, and through this, reflects the world onto itself. 

Five years after her last album was released—five years of growth, healing and head-down work—Leela’s fifth album “North Star Calling” was released in late 2019 and has since won a 2021 Juno for Indigenous Artist/Group of the Year, a Canadian Folk Music Award for Indigenous Songwriter of the Year, and Roots Album of the Year at the Summer Solstice Indigenous Music Awards. It is more raw, more intimate and more Leela than anything you’ve heard from her before. 

WILLOW FIDDLER

Reporter/Journalist for:

• Globe and Mail
• Aboriginal Peoples TV Network
• Global BC

SEASON 1, EPISODE 8

Guest host Willow Fiddler discussing Seven Fallen Feathers by Tanya Talaga.

Willow Fiddler is a national news reporter for The Globe and Mail, covering northern Ontario and Manitoba. Prior to joining The Globe, she was a video journalist for Aboriginal Peoples Television Network National News reporting in Thunder Bay.

She is a three-time finalist for the Canadian Association of Journalists awards and the recipient of the 2017 Emerging Indigenous Journalist award. Ms. Fiddler is passionate about stories and issues that impact Indigenous people and communities, particularly in the North.

ROSANNA DEERCHILD

Books by Rosanna Deerchild

• Calling Down The Sky (2015)
• This is a Small Northern Town (2008)

SEASON 1, EPISODE 7

Guest host Rosanna Deerchild discussing Jonny Appleseed by Joshua Whitehead.

Rosanna Deerchild (She/Her) is Cree, from the community of O-Pipon-Na-Piwan Cree Nation. She has been a storyteller for more than 20 years; as a journalist, broadcaster and a poet. She is the host of CBC Radio One’s Unreserved. Her debut poetry collection ‘this is a small northern town’ shared her reflections of growing up in a racially divided place. It won the 2009 Aqua Books Lansdowne Prize for Poetry. Her second book, ‘calling down the sky,’ is a collaborative work with her mother who was forced to attend Indian Residential School. Her first play with the Royal MTC’s Pimootayowin Creators Circle is called ‘how to drink red rose tea.’

JANET ROGERS

Books by Janet Rogers

• Splitting the Heart (2007)
• Red Erotic (2010)
• Unearthed (2011)
• “Peace in Duress” Talonbooks (2014) and Totem Poles and Railroads ARP Books (2016)
• “As Long As the Sun Shines” (English edition 2018) (Mohawk-language edition 2019)
• “Ego of a Nation” (2020)

SEASON 1, EPISODE 6

Guest host Janet Rogers discussing Burning in This Midnight Dream by Louise Bernice Halfe.

Victoria British Columbia Poet Laureate 2012-2015
University of Northern British Columbia Writer in Residence 2015/2016
OCAD Indigenous Visual Culture NIGIG Visiting Artist 2016
Northern Comma Writer in Residence Sept.-Oct. 2017
University of Lethbridge Gushul Artists Residency November 2017
Joy Kogawa Writer in Residence April-June 2018
Institute of American Indian Art Artist in Residence July-August 2018
University of Alberta Writer in Residence September 2018-May 2019
McMaster University & Hamilton Public Library Writer in Residence 2020-2021

Janet Rogers is a Mohawk/Tuscarora writer from Six Nations of the Grand River. She was born in Vancouver British Columbia in 1963 and raised in southern Ontario. Janet traveled throughout 2017-2019 working within numerous residencies in Vancouver BC, Santa Fe NM and Edmonton AB. Janet is based on the Six Nations territory of the Grand River where she operates the Ojistoh Publishing label. Janet works in page poetry, spoken word performance poetry, video poetry and recorded poetry with music. She is a radio broadcaster, documentary producer and media
and sound artist.

Jackson Twobears and Janet collaborate as 2Ro Media. They combined their individual talents and skills along with National Screen Institute training to produce two short documentaries; NDNs on the Airwaves about Six Nations
radio (APTN 2016), Moving Voice, a Telus STORYHIVE sponsored digital broadcast 2019 featuring the travels of literary trailblazer and Mohawk poetess E. Pauline Johnson, and The Spirit of Rage a short experimental video poem about anti-racism. Janet won the 45th Annual American Indian Film Festival 2020, BEST MUSIC VIDEO award for her video Ego of a Nation produced with Wes Day of Fresh Shift Productions.

ALETHEA ARNAQUQ-BARIL

Books by Alethea Arnaquq-Baril

• The Blind Boy and the Loon (2014)

SEASON 1, EPISODE 5

Guest host Alethea Arnaquq-Baril discussing Split Tooth by Tanya Tagaq.

Alethea is an Inuit filmmaker from the Canadian arctic where she has been producing and directing a number of shorts and features (animation, documentary and drama) since 2005. Recently Alethea joined forces with fellow Inuk filmmaker Stacey Aglok to expand into scripted television with their new company, Red Marrow Media.

Alethea directed and produced award-winning APTN mid-length documentary TUNNIIT: Retracing the Lines of Inuit Tattoos (ImagineNATIVE 2011 premiere), about the history and importance of traditional Inuit facial tattoos. Alethea also previously directed and produced the critically acclaimed ANGRY INUK, a feature doc about Inuit coming up with new and provocative ways to deal with international seal hunting controversies. Angry Inuk premiered at Hot Docs 2016, taking home the Audience Choice Award at both Hot Docs and TIFF Canada’s Top Ten, and went on to win several other international awards. In 2016, Alethea was presented with the Meritorious Service Cross by the Governor General of Canada, having been nominated for contributions to the arts and the craft of documentary filmmaking. Also in 2016, Alethea was bestowed the “DOC Vanguard Award” by the DOC Institute, for “a keen artistic sensibility and forward-thinking approach to the craft, with the potential to lead the next generation of doc-makers.” Most recently, Alethea was a producer on the award winning feature film THE GRIZZLIES, which premiered at TIFF in 2018.