Book Club
University of Winnipeg Library Book Club Lists - motivating reading, thought, and discussion beyond regular academic studies
About the List
In response to the Joseph Boyden scandal, Buzzfeed suggested this list of authentic Indigenous authors from Canada.
We had several books already in the UW collection, and others were placed on order.
If you have a suggested title/author to add to this list or to our collection, please contact Michael Hohner, Head of Collections
Books in the University of Winnipeg Collection
Indian Horse by Call Number: PS 8595 A324I64 2012ISBN: 9781553654025Publication Date: 2012
Calling Down the Sky by Call Number: in processingISBN: 9781772310054Publication Date: 2015
Birdie by
Bernice Meetoos will not be broken. A big, beautiful Cree woman with a dark secret in her past, Bernice ("Birdie") has left her home in northern Alberta to travel to Gibsons, B.C. She is on something of a vision quest, looking for family, for home, for understanding. She is also driven by the leftover teenaged desire to meet Pat Johns--Jesse from The Beachcombers--because he is, as she says, a working, healthy Indian man. Birdie heads for Molly's Reach to find answers, but they are not the ones she expected. With the arrival in Gibsons of her Auntie Val and her cousin Skinny Freda, Birdie begins to draw from her dreams the lessons she was never fully taught in life. Informed by the lore and knowledge of Cree traditions, Birdie is a darkly comic and moving first novel about the universal experience of recovering from tragedy. At heart, it is the story of an extraordinary woman who travels to the deepest part of herself to find the strength to face the past and to build a new life.
Call Number: PS 8623 I52B57 2015ISBN: 9781443451352Publication Date: 2016-02-16
North End Love Songs by
For Katherena Vermette, Winnipeg's North End is a neighbourhood of colourful birds, stately elms, and always wily rivers. It is where a brother's disappearance is trivialized by local media and police because he is young and aboriginal. It is also where young girls share secrets, movies, cigarettes, Big Gulps and stories of love&emdash;where a young mother full of both maternal trepidation and joy watches her small daughters as they play in the park. "In North End Love Songs, Katherena Vermette uses spare language and brief, telling sketches to illuminate the aviary of a prairie neighbourhood. Vermette's love songs are unconventional and imminent, an examination and a celebration of family and community in all weathers, the beautiful as well as the less clement conditions. This collection is a very moving tribute, to the girls and the women, the boys and the men, and the loving trouble that has forever transpired between us." &endash; Joanne Arnott "From a mixed-blood M#65533;tis woman with Mennonite roots, Kate weaves a story that winds its way through the north end (Nor-tend) of Winnipeg. It's a story of death, birth, survival, beauty and ugliness; through it all there are glimmers of hope, strength, and a will to survive whatever this city throws at you." &endash; Duncan Mercredi
Call Number: PS 8643 E74N67 2012ISBN: 9781897289761Publication Date: 2012-03-20
Brothers in Arms by
Each of the three novellas in this collection (Hearse in Snow, Red Waves and Exposure) is taut with tragedy, tradition and caring. The victories of the people within are those of native people everywhere.
Call Number: PS 8595 H4425B7 1989ISBN: 9780921827078Publication Date: 2015-09-24
Me Funny by
Humor has always been an essential part of North American aboriginal culture. This fact remained unnoticed by most settlers, however, since non-aboriginals just didn’t get the joke. For most of written history, a stern, unyielding profile of "the Indian” dominated the popular mainstream imagination. Indians, it was believed, never laughed. But Indians themselves always knew better. As an award-winning playwright, columnist, and comedy-sketch creator, Drew Hayden Taylor has spent 15 years writing and researching aboriginal humor. For Me Funny, he asked a noted cast of writers from a variety of fields -- including such celebrated wordsmiths as Thomas King, Allan J. Ryan, Mirjam Hirch, and Tomson Highway -- to take a look at what makes aboriginal humor tick. Their hilarious, enlightening contributions playfully examine the use of humor in areas as diverse as stand-up comedy, fiction, visual art, drama, performance, poetry, traditional storytelling, and education.
Call Number: E 98 H77M4 2005ISBN: 9781553651376Publication Date: 2006-02-07
Talking to the Diaspora by
In a career that has spanned more than a quarter century, Lee Maracle has earned the reputation as one of Canada's most ardent and celebrated writers. Talking to the Diaspora, Maracle's second book of poetry, is at once personal and profound. From the revolutionary "Where Is that Odd Dandelion-Looking-Flower" to the tender poem "Salmon Dance," from the biting "Language" to the elegiac "Boy in the Archives," these poems embody the fearless passion and spirited wit for which Lee Maracle is beloved and revered.
Call Number: in processingISBN: 9781894037655Publication Date: 2015-11-01
Legacy by Call Number: PS 8635 I246L44 2014ISBN: 9781926886343Publication Date: 2014
Indigenous Writes by
In Indigenous Writes, Chelsea Vowel initiates myriad conversations about the relationship between Indigenous peoples and Canada. An advocate for Indigenous worldviews, the author discusses the fundamental issues--the terminology of relationships; culture and identity; myth-busting; state violence; and land, learning, law and treaties--along with wider social beliefs about these issues. She answers the questions that many people have on these topics to spark further conversations at home, in the classroom, and in the larger community.
Call Number: E 78 C2V69 2016ISBN: 9781553796800Publication Date: 2016-09-09
Monkey Beach by Call Number: PS 8585 O248M6 2000ISBN: 0676970753Publication Date: 2000
The Lesser Blessed by
A fresh, funny look at growing up Native in the North, by award-winning author Richard Van Camp. Larry is a Dogrib Indian growing up in the small northern town of Fort Simmer. His tongue, his hallucinations and his fantasies are hotter than the sun. At sixteen, he loves Iron Maiden, the North and Juliet Hope, the high school "tramp." When Johnny Beck, a Metis from Hay River, moves to town, Larry is ready for almost anything. In this powerful and often very funny first novel, Richard Van Camp gives us one of the most original teenage characters in fiction. Skinny as spaghetti, nervy and self-deprecating, Larry is an appealing mixture of bravado and vulnerability. His past holds many terrors: an abusive father, blackouts from sniffing gasoline, an accident that killed several of his cousins. But through his friendship with Johnny, he’s ready now to face his memories--and his future. Marking the debut of an exciting new writer, The Lesser Blessed is an eye-opening depiction of what it is to be a young Native man in the age of AIDS, disillusionment with Catholicism and a growing world consciousness. A coming-of-age story that any fan of The Catcher in the Rye will enjoy.
Call Number: PS 8593 A442L48 2004ISBN: 9781550545258Publication Date: 2004-04-06
