Family, Identity & Future: David A. Robertson & Jesse Thistle

David A. Robertson, Jesse Thistle and Roland Gulliver

Family, Identity & Future: David A. Robertson & Jesse Thistle

David A. Robertson, Jesse Thistle and Roland Gulliver

8:00pm

Friday, October 30, 2020

60 mins

Reflections on the past lead to remarkable passages of self-discovery in the recently released memoirs of Indigenous authors David A. Robertson and Jesse Thistle. Robertson recounts his storied journey of reconnection with his Cree father and the land they come from, in Black Water: Family, Legacy and Blood Memory; while Thistle guides us through his harrowing battle with drug addiction and broken family relationships, in From the Ashes: My Story of Being Métis, Homeless, and Finding My Way. Meet the men who lived these remarkable lives and who continue to inspire and broaden perspectives.

Interviewer: Roland Gulliver

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Reflections on the past lead to remarkable passages of self-discovery in the recently released memoirs of Indigenous authors David A. Robertson and Jesse Thistle. Robertson recounts his storied journey of reconnection with his Cree father and the land they come from, in Black Water: Family, Legacy and Blood Memory; while Thistle guides us through his harrowing battle with drug addiction and broken family relationships, in From the Ashes: My Story of Being Métis, Homeless, and Finding My Way. Meet the men who lived these remarkable lives and who continue to inspire and broaden perspectives.

Interviewer: Roland Gulliver

English captioning is available for this video. Please click the ‘CC’ button in the video toolbar to turn it on.

Featured Authors

David A. Robertson
David A. Robertson is the recipient of the Writers' Union of Canada Freedom to Read Award. His memoir, Black Water, won the Carol Shields Winnipeg Book Award and the Alexander Kennedy Isbister Award for Non-Fiction. His middle-grade fantasy series, The Misewa Saga, includes the #1 bestseller The Barren Grounds. He won the Governor General's Literary Award for On the Trapline and When We Were Alone. Robertson is also the writer and host of the award-winning podcast Kiwew. The Theory of Crows is his first novel for adults. David is a member of Norway House Cree Nation. He lives in Winnipeg.

Read more about David A. Robertson

Jesse Thistle
Jesse Thistle is Métis-Cree, from Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. He is an assistant professor in Métis Studies at York University in Toronto. He is a finalist for the Kobo Emerging Writer Prize, won a Governor General’s Academic Medal in 2016 and is a Pierre Elliot Trudeau Foundation Scholar and a Vanier Scholar. His memoir From the Ashes was an instant Canadian bestseller and shortlisted for Canada Reads.

Read more about Jesse Thistle

Roland Gulliver
Roland Gulliver is the Director of the Toronto International Festival of Authors, and a leading international figure in the literature sector with over 12 years’ experience at the Edinburgh International Book Festival as Associate Director. His programming explores the potential of live performance, alongside commissions for new multimedia storytelling. Gulliver champions communities by facilitating access and empowerment, and creating spaces for authors and audiences to engage in discussion. He is on the Board of Directors for the Toronto Arts Council and Chair of their Literary Advisory Committee, and is a Member of the Academy for the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction.

Read more about Roland Gulliver

8:00pm

Friday, October 30

60 mins

What to read

Black Water: Family, Legacy and Blood Memory by , From the Ashes: My Story of Being Métis, Homeless, and Finding My Way by ,
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