CULTURE

Top Ten Books to Listen to for National Indigenous Peoples Day with Audible.ca

Posted on June 19, 2020 | by Felisha Liu

Audible marks National Indigenous Peoples Day featuring top titles from Indigenous creators

June 21 is National Indigenous Peoples Day, a day to recognize the First Nations, Inuit and Métis Indigenous Peoples of Canada. It is also an opportunity to learn more about the varied experiences, history and culture of Indigenous Peoples. To celebrate and learn more about Indigenous cultures, we’ve listed a range of fiction and non-fiction content by Canadian Indigenous authors on Audible.ca.

Nonfiction/Memoirs:

From the Ashes

Written and narrated by: Jesse Thistle

Length: 9 hrs and 55 mins

From the Ashes is a memoir about hope and resilience, and a revelatory look into the life of a Métis-Cree man who refused to give up. Thistle, once a high-school dropout and now a rising Indigenous scholar, chronicles his life on the streets and how he overcame trauma and addiction to discover the truth about who he is. An exploration of the impact of prejudice and racism, From the Ashes is, in the end, about how love and support can help us find happiness despite the odds.

Heart Berries

Written by: Terese Marie Mailhot

Narrated by: Rainy Fields

Length: 3 hrs and 45 mins

Guileless and refreshingly honest, Terese Mailhot’s debut memoir chronicles her struggle to balance the beauty of her Native heritage with the often desperate and chaotic reality of life on the reservation. Having survived a profoundly dysfunctional upbringing only to find herself hospitalized and facing a dual diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder and bipolar II, Mailhot is given a notebook and begins to write her way out of trauma. As she writes, she discovers her own true voice, seizes control of her story and, in so doing, reestablishes her connection to her family, to her people, and to her place in the world.

They Called Me Number One

Written and narrated by: Bev Sellars

Length: 7 hrs and 17 mins

In this frank and poignant memoir of her years at St. Joseph’s Mission, Sellars breaks her silence about the residential school’s lasting effects on her and her family – from substance abuse to suicide attempts – and eloquently articulates her own path to healing.

A Mind Spread Out on the Ground

Written and narrated by: Alicia Elliott

Length: 6 hrs and 36 mins

With deep consideration and searing prose, Elliott provides a candid look at our past, an illuminating portrait of our present and a powerful tool for a better future. She asks questions about the treatment of Native people in North America while drawing on intimate details of her own life and experience with intergenerational trauma and offering indispensable insight into the ongoing legacy of colonialism.

Seven Fallen Feathers

Written by: Tanya Talaga

Narrated by: Michaela Washburn

Length: 9 hrs and 7 mins

Using a sweeping narrative focusing on the lives of the students, award-winning investigative journalist, Tanya Talaga, delves into the history of this small northern city that has come to manifest Canada’s long struggle with human rights violations against Indigenous communities.

Fiction:

Empire of Wild

Written by: Cherie Dimaline

Narrated by: Michelle St. John

Length: 8 hrs and 16 mins

From the author of the YA-crossover hit, The Marrow Thieves, a propulsive, stunning and sensuous novel inspired by the traditional Métis story of the Rogarou – a werewolf-like creature that haunts the roads and woods of Métis communities who’s only mission is to bring his people to Jesus. Except that, as Joan soon discovers, that’s not all the enigmatic Wolff is doing.

Split Tooth

Written and narrated by: Tanya Tagaq

Length: 5 hrs and 31 mins

Haunting, brooding, exhilarating, and tender all at once, Tagaq moves effortlessly between fiction and memoir, myth and reality, poetry and prose, and conjures a world and a heroine listeners will never forget. Taking place in the 1970s, a pregnant girl in Nunavut tells her story.

Son of a Trickster

Written by: Eden Robinson

Narrated by: Jason Ryll

Length: 9 hrs and 8 mins

With striking originality and precision, Eden Robinson blends humor with heartbreak in this compelling coming-of-age novel. Everyday teen existence meets indigenous beliefs, family dynamics, and cannibalistic river otter…the exciting first novel in her Trickster trilogy.

Moon of the Crusted Snow

Written by: Waubgeshig Rice

Narrated by: Billy Merasty

Length: 6 hrs and 46 mins

A daring post-apocalyptic novel from a powerful rising literary voice. Blending action and allegory, Moon of the Crusted Snow upends our expectations. Out of catastrophe comes resilience. And as one society collapses, another is reborn. With winter looming, a small northern Anishinaabe community goes dark. Cut off, people become passive and confused. Panic builds as the food supply dwindles. While the band council and a pocket of community members struggle to maintain order, an unexpected visitor arrives, escaping the crumbling society to the south. Soon after, others follow.

Indian Horse

Written by: Richard Wagamese

Narrated by: Jason Ryll

Length: 6 hrs and 51 mins

Saul Indian Horse is in critical condition. Sitting feeble in an alcoholism treatment facility, he is told that sharing his story will help relieve his agony. After being taken forcibly from his family, Saul is placed in an abusive boarding school determined to expunge his Ojibway traditions and knowledge. But he finds salvation each morning at dawn, practicing hockey alone on the school’s makeshift ice rink. As his skills improve and he gains notoriety, each of his victories on the ice is met by racism and hate. As the years pass, Saul must reconcile his passion – the game he loves, that allowed him to escape poverty – with the harshness of a world that will never make him entirely welcome.

Want more books to listen to? Head over to audible.ca to learn more.

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