Memoirs & Life Stories

Indigenous Authors in the Spotlight Series

Our fall 2021 spotlight shines on authors writing their own stories through prose, poetry or other forms of autobiographical expression(s), and on Elders telling their stories through oral history interviews. We feature authors and collaborators from numerous nations and communities: Inuit, Innu, Huron Wendat, Ojibwe, Nehiyawak Cree, Métis, Sto:lo, Nlaka'pamux, Nisga'a and more. Yet, our highlighted entries represent only a small sampling of works in this area of study. Browse our bibliographies to find many additional memoir selections, including a variety of very recent memoirs by young writers and a growing collection of residential school life stories.

Thank you to Sarah Monnier for curating and putting together this collection. Thank you to Manon Tremblay for her contributions to the content.

NISHGA

Jordan Abel

2020

Autobiographical meditations by an award-winning author about family, intergenerational trauma, Indigenous identity, and the afterlife of residential schools

The Shoe Boy: A trapline memoir

Duncan McCue

2016

Coming-of-age memoir of an Anishinaabe boy experiencing cultural shock in northern Quebec

Indian School Days

Basil Johnson

1989

Classic autobiography of Johnson’s childhood experiences in St. Peter Claver's Indian Residential School in Northern Ontario

Life Among the Qallunaat

Mini Aodla Freeman

2015 [1978]

Freeman’s experiences moving between her Inuit world and the strange land of the Qallunaat, those living south of the Arctic

Saqiyuq

Apphia Agalakti Awa [and others]

1999

Stories from the Lives of Three Inuit Women. A grandmother, daughter, and granddaughter from Pond Inlet

From the Tundra to the Trenches

Eddy Weetaltuk

2017

An Inuk man's experiences of military service in the Korean War, world travel, and return to the Arctic

Kôhkominawak otâcimowiniwâwa

Glecia Bear [and others]

1992

Transcribed oral stories about life in Alberta and Saskatchewan, in the bush and on reserves, by ten Cree women

The Education of Augie Merasty: A Residential School Memoir

Joseph Auguste Merasty

2015

National bestselling story of abuse and survival at a Saskatchewan residential school by a retired fisherman, trapper and amateur boxer

Je suis une maudite sauvagesse

An Antane Kapesh

1976

Seminal work documenting colonialism's effect on the Innu and attesting to Kapesh's fierce pride in her community, family and identity

From the ashes: my story of being Métis, homeless, and finding my way

Jesse Thistle

2019

Explores experiences of racism and being cast adrift, but also of love, hope and resilience

Mononk Jules

Jocelyn Sioui

2020

Sioui writes of his great uncle, a once renowned Wendat activist who then disappeared from both family and historical narratives

Bobbi Lee: Indian Rebel

Lee Maracle

2017 [1975]

Maracle's autobiographical exploration of post-colonial tensions in Toronto circa 1960-1980

A Two-Spirit Journey: The Autobiography of a Lesbian Ojibwa-Cree Elder

Ma-Nee Chacaby

2016

A story of healing from a respected elder, artist and activist written in collaboration of Mary Louisa Plummer

Calling down the sky

Rosanna Deerchild

2015

Poetry collection exploring a mother-daughter relationship and the post generational effects of residential school confinements

Heart Berries

Terese Marie Mailhot

2018

Essays about Mailhot's childhood, mental health, personal identity and re-established connections with her family, community, and place in the world

A Really Good Brown Girl

Marilyn Dumont

2015 [1996]

Collection of fierce, sly and humorous autobiographical poems about Metis identity, and the prairies

Âh-âyîtaw isi ê-kî-kiskêyihtahkik maskihkiy

Alice Akenakew

2000

Stories of childhood, courtship and marriage, as well as an account of the 1918 influenza epidemic

Gwich’in K’yuu Gwiidandài’ Tthak Ejuk Gòonlih

Gwich'in Tribal Council

2020

Twenty-three Gwich’in Elders talk about the pleasures of living and travelling on the land