Join Word Feast and Westminster Bookmark for our partnering event featuring readings from two New Brunswick fiction writers, Angel T. Dionne, author of the short story collection Sardines, and thom vernon, author of the forthcoming novel The Drifts and I Met Death & Sex Through My Friend, Tom Meuley.
About Sardines: In this, the author’s first collection, readers will find twelve tinned tales of a world both familiar and disquietingly austere.
About I Met Death & Sex Through My Friend, Tom Mauley: In this dark comedy taking place over twenty-four hours, a blizzard pummels Toronto as a beloved high school teacher coerces his teenage student to assist in his violent suicide forcing the student, his best friend, the friend’s bulimic mom, and a down-low cop to outrun each other, the storm, and the ghosts haunting them. Accessibility information: ASL interpretation will be provided.
Join local author Vaness C. Hawkins for her workshop on querying publishers!
Crack the code to publishing success and dive into a concise, power-packed session to master the art of crafting attention-grabbing queries. Whether you’re a debut author or a seasoned scribe, let’s unleash the magic that gets your manuscript noticed! To register for this event, please email chair.word.feast@gmail.com. Accessibility information: ASL interpretation will be provided.
An Evening with Jesse Thistle at the Imperial Theatre. Thursday, June 16, 2022 at 7:30pm Tickets: free [limit of 6]
If you would like a complimentary copy of Jesse’s book click here.
Indigenous Rights Advocate and bestselling author of From The Ashes, Assistant Professor of Métis Studies at York University
Jesse Thistle is a Métis-Cree Ph.D. Candidate in the History program and Assistant Professor at York University, Toronto. Currently, he is working on theories of the intergenerational and historical trauma of the Métis people. Jesse’s work involves reflections on his own previous struggles with addiction and homelessness and has been recognized as having a wide impact on both the scholarly community and the greater public.
Thistle was born in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. In 1979 he and his two brothers were removed from his family home and moved to Brampton, Ontario to be brought up by his paternal grandparents. During his late teens and twenties, Thistle struggled with addiction, homelessness, and served several brief stints in jail for petty theft. After an unsuccessful robbery attempt in 2006, Thistle turned himself in to police custody and entered a drug rehabilitation program. In 2012 he entered the undergraduate history program at York University.
Thistle is a Trudeau Scholar, a prestigious award administered by the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation, a Vanier Scholar, and was awarded a Governor General’s Silver Medal in 2016. He has won numerous other awards, including the Odessa Award in 2014 and the Dr. James Wu prize in 2015 for his paper “We are children of the river: Toronto’s Lost Métis History,” and in 2019 became an Atlohsa Peace Award Honoree.
In 2019, Jesse published his autobiographical and acclaimed book “From the Ashes: My Story of Being Métis, Homeless and Finding My Way,” which went on to be a #1 bestseller as well as nominated for Canada Reads. Jesse is the author of the Definition of Indigenous Homelessness in Canada published through the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness, and his historical research has been published in numerous academic journals, book chapters, and featured on CBC Ideas, CBC Campus, and Unreserved.
Thistle is married to Lucie Thistle and they have a daughter, Rose.
