Image
Image Caption
LitFest will bring non-fiction authors to Edmonton Oct. 17 to Oct. 27, including Indigenous writers Jesse Thistle, the Métis-Cree author of From the Ashes, Suzanne Methot, co-author of the textbook Aboriginal Beliefs, Values, and Aspirations, and Shane Chartrand of the Enoch Cree Nation, a chef at the forefront of the re-emergence of Indigenous cuisine in North America.
Thistle will speak about From the Ashes at the Amiskwaciy Theatre on Oct. 18, and later on a panel entitled Reconciling Times that same evening with Methot and author Annahid Dashtgard.
From the Ashes is described as a heart-warming and heart-wrenching memoir of Thistle’s life of struggles. He was abandoned by this parents, had experience with the foster care system, lived within a self-destructive cycle of drug and alcohol addiction and petty crime, and spent more than a decade on and off the streets until he realized he would die unless he turned his life around.
Methot is a Cree writer, editor, educator, and community worker born in Vancouver and raised in Peace River, Alta. Her work has been published in anthologies including Steal My Rage: New Native Voices and Let the Drums Be Your Heart. Methot will also be part of the discussion titled Tarnished Legacies on Oct. 19.
Dashtgard is author of Breaking the Ocean: A Memoir of Race, Rebellion and Reconciliation, and host of the Breaking the Ocean podcast.
Chartrand will speak Oct. 19 with Jennifer Cockrall-King about their cookbook tawâw: Progressive Indigenous Cuisine, and under the LitFest program title tawâw: There is Room.
LitFest is a festival where writers share true stories about what they know and challenge participants with their ideas. It’s Canada’s first and only non-fiction festival.
The full event schedule and individual event tickets are now available at litfestalberta.org.