“If we want to live at peace with ourselves, we need to tell our stories.” – Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese
Join us on October 31 at 2 p.m. for an informal afternoon reading with award-winning Ojibway author Richard Wagamese. His latest novel Indian Horse tells the realistic story of a man whose life is drastically changed by one of Canada’s most painful histories – Indian Residental Schools.
Saul Indian Horse is taken away as a child from his family and forced into an Indian Residential School where he witnessed and experienced unimaginable abuses at the hands of the school’s educators. In spite of the harrowing atrocities, it is at the school that Saul discovers his love of hockey. However, as Saul grows into a man, he struggles with racism and alcohol addiction. Saul’s tumultuous adulthood eventually leads him back to his roots, where he confronts his past and begins a new journey towards healing.
Free and open to the UBC community and public, but registration is recommended. Tea and bannock will be served.
Location: Lillooet Room, Level 3 of the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre
About the author
Wagamese is from the Wabaseemoong First Nation in Northwestern Ontario. He is the author of several fiction and non-fiction works including For Joshua: An Ojibway Father Teaches His Son, Runaway Dreams, and Indian Horse. In 1991 he became the first Aboriginal Canadian to receive the National Newspaper Award for Column Writing. His most recent novel, Indian Horse, was chosen as the winner of First Nation Communities Read, and is on the Globe and Mail’s bestseller’s list as well as the Canadian Booksellers Association’s bestseller’s list. Among his awards, Wagamese’s memoir One Native Life was listed as one of The Globe and Mail’s 100 Best Books of 2008. In 2010 he accepted an Honorary Doctor of Letters from Thompson Rivers University. Wagamese currently lives just outside of Kamloops, BC with his wife, Debra Powell, and Molly the Story Dog.