In celebration of #BlackHistoryMonth, I'm featuring a BIPOC writer for every day of February. And as a special treat for subscribers to my newsletter, every week one lucky winner will win a copy of a book from each of that week's seven featured writers. Winners will be announced right here on the blog, starting this Saturday night. Not a subscriber yet? Scroll to the bottom of this page, and sign up!
Today's featured writer is Tanya Talaga, an Ojibwe journalist and author from the Fort William First Nation in Ontario. Her award-winning book, SEVEN FALLEN FEATHERS: Racism, Death and Hard Truths in a Northern City was published to great acclaim in 2017, and is a must-read for all Canadians. The book depicts a heart-breakingly short period of time when seven young indigenous lives were lost in and around Thunder Bay. You can read about Tanya's writing, including, her Massey Speaking series ALL OUR RELATIONS: Finding a Path Forward [also published, to world-wide acclaim] and her activism, at her site HERE.
I'd actually planned to feature Tanya later in the month, but when this article popped up on my CBC feed this morning, it brough Tanya and her advocacy to the top of mind. Reconciliation is a huge and complex topic in Canada, and while this article features events in Thunder Bay, racist colonial legacies run deep in institutions in every corner of this country. The work of Tanya Talaga and other indigenous writers should be required reading for every Canadian. If you haven't already, I hope you'll take the time to join me in doing just that.
You can win a copy of SEVEN FALLEN FEATHERS in the draw for all this week's featured books on Saturday. This will be the first of four draws this month, and will include books authored by Jenny Heijun Wills, Rahma Rodaah, Beverly Jenkins, Jael Richardson and three others. This amazing selection is the first of four prizes that will up for grabs this month for one of my lucky newsletter subscribers. I mean -- who wouldn't want books from this collection of super-stars?
Make sure you're signed up at kcdyer.com and watch here for new featured writers every day this month.
More soon...
~kc