15 memoirs by Indigenous writers you need to read

From Wab Kinew to Jordin Tootoo, here are 15 powerful memoirs by Indigenous writers.

CBC Books · CBC · Posted: May 10, 2017 1:05 PM EDT | Last Updated: May 15, 2017

Love memoirs? In honour of #welovememoirsday, we've curated a list of 15 great personal stories, all by Indigenous writers living in Canada and the United States.

The Blue Jay's Dance is Louise Erdrich's first major work of nonfiction. (Harper Perennial/Viking/University of Regina Press)

The Blue Jay's Dance by Louise Erdrich
All the Way by Jordin Tootoo, with Stephen Brunt
The Education of Augie Merasty by Joseph Auguste Merasty, with David Carpenter

They Called Me Number One won the 2014 George Ryga Award for Social Awareness in Literature. (Penguin Canada/Talon Books/Douglas & McIntyre)

The Reason You Walk by Wab Kinew
They Called Me Number One by Bev Sellars
One Native Life by Richard Wagamese

Chantal Kreviazuk championed The Right to Be Cold on Canada Reads 2017. (Nonvella Publishing/Penguin Canada/Purich Publishing)

The Shoe Boy by Duncan McCue
The Right to Be Cold by Sheila Watt-Cloutier
Indian Ernie by Ernie Louttit

Up Ghost River was a finalist for the 2014 Governor General’s Literary Award for nonfiction. (Goodread Biography/Vintage/University of Nebraska Press)

Half-Breed by Maria Campbell
Up Ghost River by Edmund Metatawabin, with Alexandra Shimo
Song of Rita Joe by Rita Joe

Life Among the Qallunaat is the third book in the First Voices, First Texts series, which publishes under appreciated texts by Indigenous writers. (University of Oklahoma Press/Coteau Books/University of Manitoba Press)

Indian School Days by Basil H. Johnston
Morningstar by Morningstar Mercredi
Life Among the Qallunaat by Mini Aodla Freeman

15 memoirs by Indigenous writers you need to read

Social Sharing

Related Stories