Podcast appearances and mentions of Darrel J Mcleod

This live event was recorded on October 15, 2022 at the Chimczuk Museum in Windsor, Ontario as part of the BookFest / Festival du Livre Windsor 2022 literary festival. You will hear a conversation with moderator Gord Grisenthwaite and Louse Bernice Halfe Skydancer, Carol Rose GoldenEagle, Joseph Kakwinokanasum, and Tyler Pennock. The event has been edited for sound and length. There are some mature subjects and language. It's all great. Louise Bernice Halfe – Sky Dancer was raised on Saddle Lake Reserve and attended Blue Quills Residential School. She is Canada's Parliamentary Poet Laureate. Halfe was awarded the Latner Writers Trust Award for her body of work in 2017, and was awarded the 2020 Kloppenburg Award for Literary Excellence. She was granted a lifetime membership in the League of Canadian Poets, and currently works with Elders in the organization Opikinawasowin (“raising our children”) and lives near Saskatoon with her husband, Peter. Brick Books has published a new edition of Burning in This Midnight Dream in May 2021. Her newest work is awâsis – kinky and dishevelled  (Brick Books, 2021.) Carol Rose GoldenEagle was appointed Saskatchewan's Poet Laureate in 2021.  She is an author of the award-winning novel Bearskin Diary.  It was chosen as the national Aboriginal Literature Title for 2017.  The French language translation of this novel, entitled Peau D'ours won a Saskatchewan Book Award in 2019.Her first book of poetry, titled Hiraeth, was shortlisted for a Saskatchewan Book Award in 2019.   Her second novel, Bone Black, was released in the Fall of 2019. Her latest novel, The Narrows of Fear, was released October 2020, and the chosen title for a 2021 Saskatchewan Book Award. Another collection of poetry, called Essential Ingredients, was released in 2021.  Her poetry collection, entitled Stations of the Crossed,  is published by Inanna Publications. Joseph Kakwinokanasum is a member of the James Smith Cree Nation who grew up in the Peace region of northern BC, one of seven children raised by a single mother. A graduate of SFU's Writers Studio, his short story “Ray Says” was a finalist for CBC's 2020 Nonfiction Prize.  His work has appeared in The Humber Literary Review and Resonance: Essays on the Craft and Life of Writing. In 2022, he was selected by Darrel J. McLeod as one of The Writers Trust of Canada's “Rising Stars.” He now lives and writes on Vancouver Island. Loosely based on his own childhood, My Indian Summer is his first novel. Tyler Pennock, author of Bones (2020) and Blood (2022) is a two-spirit adoptee from a Cree and Métis family in the Lesser Slave Lake region of Alberta. Tyler is a member of Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation. They graduated from Guelph University's Creative Writing MFA program in 2013, and currently live in Toronto. Gord (G. A.) Grisenthwaite is Nłeʔkepmx, member of the Lytton First Nation. His work has earned a number of prizes, including the 2014 John Kenneth Galbraith Literary Award. He lives in Kingsville, ON.  His first book, Home Waltz was a Finalist for 2021 Governor General Award for Fiction and Longlisted for the 2021 First Nation Communities Read Award

ABOUT THIS EPISODE: In this episode, host Megan Cole talks to Darrel J. McLeod. Darrel's memoir Peyakow: Reclaiming Cree Dignity is a finalist for the 2022 Hubert Evans Non-Fiction Prize and the 2022 Jim Deva Prize for Writing that Provokes. In their conversation, Darrel talks about the way memoir writing allowed him to reclaim and tell his story, and how he used Cree in his books. ABOUT DARREL J. MCLEOD: Darrel J. McLeod is Cree from Treaty-8 territory in Northern Alberta. Before deciding to pursue writing, he worked as an educator, chief negotiator of land claims for the federal government and executive director of education and international affairs with the Assembly of First Nations. He holds degrees in French literature and education from the University of British Columbia. He currently lives in Sooke, BC, and divides his time between writing and singing in a jazz band. ABOUT MEGAN COLE: Megan Cole the Director of Programming and Communications for the BC and Yukon Book Prizes. She is also a writer based on the territory of the Tla'amin Nation. Megan writes creative nonfiction and has had essays published in Chatelaine, This Magazine, The Puritan, Untethered, and more. She has her MFA in creative nonfiction from the University of King's College and is working her first book. Find out more about Megan at megancolewriter.com ABOUT THE PODCAST: Writing the Coast is recorded and produced on the traditional territory of the Tla'amin Nation. As a settler on these lands, Megan Cole finds opportunities to learn and listen to the stories from those whose land was stolen. Writing the Coast is a recorded series of conversations, readings, and insights into the work of the writers, illustrators, and creators whose books are nominated for the annual BC and Yukon Book Prizes. We'll also check in on people in the writing community who are supporting books, writers and readers every day. The podcast is produced and hosted by Megan Cole.

Darrel J. McLeod is the author of Peyakow and Mamaskatch, which received the Govenor General's Literary Award for Nonfiction. He is Cree from Treaty 8 territory in Northern Alberta. Before deciding to pursue writing in his retirement, McLeod was a chief negotiator of land claims for the federal government and executive director of education and international affairs with the Assembly of First Nations. Arts, Medicine and #Life is a series, hosted by internist, writer, musician and award-winning medical educator Dr. Jillian Horton, that features world-renowned doctors speaking about their area of interest and expertise on far-ranging topics in health and wellness. Join us for an intimate look at the deeply human and arts-related aspects of being a physician, where we will be offering hopeful personal narratives that can help us find a way forward.

In Mamaskatch, Darrel J. McLeod captured an early childhood full of the stories, scents, and sensations of his great-grandfather's cabin, as well as the devastating separation from family, ensuing abuse, and eventual loss of his mother that permeated his adolescence. In the equally potent Peyakow, McLeod follows a young man through many seasons of his life, navigating an ever-turbulent personal and political landscape filled with loss, love, addiction, and perseverance. Weaving together the past and the present through powerful, linked chapters, McLeod confronts how both the personal traumas of his youth and the historical traumas of his ancestral line impact the trajectory of his life. With unwavering and heart-wrenching honesty, Peyakow--Cree for "one who walks alone"--recounts how one man carries the spirit of his family through the lifelong process of healing. _______________________________________________   Produced by Maddie Gobbo, Lance Morgan, & Michael Kowaleski. Theme: "I Love All My Friends," an unreleased demo by Fragile Gang. Visit https://www.skylightbooks.com/event for future offerings from the Skylight Books Events team.

Aurélie Sierra, consultante et sociologue en environnement, et Tania Morency Baribeau, agente de développement auprès de l'organisme sans but lucratif Concertation Montréal, abordent la question de la transition verte en milieu de travail et de ses défis; l'animatrice Josée Boudreault et son conjoint Louis-Philippe Rivard parlent de la campagne « Mon deuxième premier mot », lancée par Aphasie Québec; et l'auteur autochtone Darrel J. McLeod présente son livre autobiographique, intitulé « Mamaskatch: une initiation crie. »

ABOUT THIS EPISODE: Darrel J. McLeod's breathtaking memoir Mamaskatch: A Cree Coming of Age received a lot of acclaim when it was published in 2018, including the 2018 Governor General's Award for Non-Fiction. In this episode of Writing the Coast, Megan talks to Darrel about his beautiful book. Their conversation included a look at how Darrel came to putting his stories on the page, the healing his family found through storytelling and the power of nature and the environment. ABOUT DARREL J. MCLEOD: Darrel J. McLeod is Cree from treaty eight territory in Northern Alberta. Before deciding to pursue writing in his retirement, he was a chief negotiator of land claims for the federal government and executive director of education and international affairs with the Assembly of First Nations. He holds degrees in French literature and Education from the University of British Columbia. He lives in Sooke, BC, and is working on a second memoir following the events in Mamaskatch. In the spring of 2018, he was accepted into the Banff Writing Studio to advance his first work of fiction. ABOUT MEGAN COLE: Megan Cole is a writer based in Powell River, British Columbia. She also works at the Powell River Public Library as the teen services coordinator where she gets to combine her love for books and writing with a love for her community. Megan has worked as a freelance journalist and is working on a memoir which tackles themes of gender and mental health. Find out more about Megan at megancolewriter.com ABOUT THE PODCAST: The BC and Yukon Podcast, tentatively titled *Writing the Coast*, is a recorded series of conversations, readings, and insights into the work of the writers, illustrators, and creators whose books are nominated for the annual BC and Yukon Book Prizes. We'll also check in on people in the writing community who are supporting books, writers and readers every day. The podcast is produced and hosted by Megan Cole.

As a small boy in remote Alberta, Darrel J. McLeod is immersed in his Cree family’s history, passed down in the stories of his mother, Bertha. There he is surrounded by her tales of joy and horror—of the strong men in their family, of her love for Darrel, and of the cruelty she and her sisters endured in residential school—as well as his many siblings and cousins, and the smells of moose stew and wild peppermint tea. And there young Darrel learns to be fiercely proud of his heritage and to listen to the birds that will guide him throughout his life. But after a series of tragic losses, Bertha turns wild and unstable, and their home life becomes chaotic. Sweet and eager to please, Darrel struggles to maintain his grades and pursue interests in music and science while changing homes, witnessing domestic violence, caring for his younger siblings, and suffering abuse at the hands of his brother-in-law. Meanwhile, he begins to question and grapple with his sexual identity—a reckoning complicated by the repercussions of his abuse and his sibling’s own gender transition. Thrillingly written in a series of fractured vignettes, and unflinchingly honest, Mamaskatch—“It’s a wonder!” in Cree—is a heartbreaking account of how traumas are passed down from one generation to the next, and an uplifting story of one individual who overcame enormous obstacles in pursuit of a fulfilling and adventurous life.

This week Alice and Kim talk about witches, Jehovah’s Witnesses, fungus-inspired crime, and what nonfiction to read for Pride Month. This episode is sponsored by All the Books, The Collected Schizophreniasby Esmé Weijun Wang, and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, publishers of Reckoning: The Epic Battle Against Sexual Abuse and Harassment by Linda Hirshman. Subscribe to For Real using RSS, Apple Podcasts, or Stitcher. For more nonfiction recommendations, sign up for our True Story newsletter, edited by Kim Ukura. Follow Up KIM: Slow Burn podcast is doing a series on The Queen by Josh Levin (one of the editor’s behind Slow Burn) New Books Leaving the Witness: Exiting a Religion and Finding a Life by Amber Scorah Waking the Witch: Reflections on Women, Magic, and Power by Pam Grossman This Land Is Our Land: An Immigrant’s Manifesto by Suketu Mehta The Truffle Underground: A Tale of Mystery, Mayhem, and Manipulation in the Shadowy Market of the World’s Most Expensive Fungus by Ryan Jacobs Naturally Tan: A Memoir by Tan France Formation: A Woman’s Memoir of Stepping Out of Line by Ryan Leigh Dostie Grace Will Lead Us Home: The Charleston Church Massacre and the Hard, Inspiring Journey to Forgiveness by Jennifer Berry Hawes The Last Pirate of New York: A Ghost Ship, a Killer, and the Birth of a Gangster Nation by Rich Cohen Blonde Rattlesnake: Burmah Adams, Tom White, and the 1933 Crime Spree That Terrorized Los Angeles by Julia Bricklin Mamaskatch: A Cree Coming of Age by Darrel J. McLeod Bottle of Lies: The Inside Story of the Generic Drug Boom by Katherine Eban Pride Month Real Queer America: LGBT Stories from Red States by Samantha Allen Native Country of the Heart: A Memoir by Cherrie Moraga Prairie Silence: A Memoir by Melanie Hoffert The Pink Triangle: The Nazi War Against Homosexuals by Richard Plant We Have Always Been Here: A Queer Muslim Memoir by Samra Habib Indecent Advances: A Hidden History of True Crime and Prejudice Before Stonewall by James Polchin The Stonewall Riots: Coming Out in the Streets by Gayle E Pitman Reading Now KIM: Small Fry by Lisa Brennan-Jobs ALICE: The Disappearing Spoon by Sam Kean CONCLUSION You can find us on SOCIAL MEDIA – @itsalicetime and @kimthedork RATE AND REVIEW on ITUNES so people can find us more easily, and subscribe so you can get our new episodes the minute they come out.

Darrel J. McLeod is Cree from treaty eight territory in Northern Alberta. Before deciding to pursue writing in his retirement, he was a chief negotiator of land claims for the federal government and executive director of education and international affairs with the Assembly of First Nations. His memoir Mamaskatch: A Cree Coming of Age won the 2018 Governor General's Literary Award for non-fiction.  We met at the Canada Council's offices in Ottawa to discuss it, along with negotiating land claims and arguing for concessions; residential schools; catholic priests, sexual abuse and the fear of God. The United church, the Evangelical church, listening to birds; music; non-binary definitions of gender; traditional native foods, fish heads, red willow shoots, and moose thigh bones. Death. Unconditional love. Alcohol and weakness. And stand-up comedy.