Three Books to Celebrate Aboriginal Awareness week
Aboriginal Awareness Week, celebrated annually on the four days that follow the Victoria Day weekend, honours the contribution and achievements of aboriginal peoples in Canada including Metis, Inuit and First Nations. Aboriginal Awareness Week has been celebrated by the Canadian Federal Government since 1992.
In recognition of Aboriginal Awareness Week, here are three of my favourite novels written by Aboriginal Canadians.
Kiss of the Fur Queen – by Tomson Highway
This is a poignant and moving novel that explores the relationship between two brothers whose idyllic and joyful childhood abruptly ends when they are sent to the hostile and unfriendly world of a residential school. The euphoria and happiness of their early years growing up within the Cree community is contrasted starkly with the darkness and misery of residential school life. Tomson Highway is the celebrated playwright of the Rez Sisters.
Green Grass, Running Water by Thomas King
Humorous, captivating and complex, this mulit-dimensional book explores the lives of individuals whose diverse lives all come together at the annual Sun Dance Festival. As members of the Blackfoot First Nation, they struggle to maintain their traditional identities within contemporary Canadian society. Interwoven throughout the novel is the story of the trickster Coyote who converses with the creator, as well as the story of the four elders who have escaped from a mental hospital. This magnificent novel combines myth, humour and satire while drawing from both written and oral traditions.
Motorcycles and Sweetgrass by Drew Hayden Taylor
Sleepy Otter Lake is forever changed when a mysterious man pulls up on his motorcycle and sweeps the Reserve’s Chief Maggie off her feet. Her teenage son is understandably suspicious and protective of his recently widowed mother. While interweaving traditional Ojibway mythology throughout, Taylor provides a poignant look into the social, economic and political issues facing contemporary Aboriginal Canadians.
One thought on “Three Books to Celebrate Aboriginal Awareness week”
I’d also suggest a book called Red Rooms by Cherie Dimaline. The stories of a diverse group of Aboriginal patrons are told by a housekeeper working in a Toronto hotel.