Read, Listen, Tell

Don't say in the years to come that you would have lived your life differently if only you had heard this story. You've heard it now."" - Thomas King, in this volumeRead, Listen, Tell brings together an extraordinary range of Indigenous stories from across Turtle Island (North America). From short fiction to as-told-to narratives, from illustrated stories to personal essays, these stories celebrate the strength of heritage and the liveliness of innovation. Ranging in tone from humorous to defiant to triumphant, the stories explore core concepts in Indigenous literary expression, such as the relations between land, language, and community, the variety of narrative forms, and the continuities between oral and written forms of expression. Rich in insight and bold in execution, the stories proclaim the diversity, vitality, and depth of Indigenous writing.Building on two decades of scholarly work to centre Indigenous knowledges and perspectives, the book transforms literary method while respecting and honouring Indigenous histories and peoples of these lands. It includes stories by acclaimed writerslike Thomas King, Sherman Alexie, Paula Gunn Allen, and Eden Robinson, a new generation of emergent writers, and writers and storytellers who have often been excluded from the canon, such as French- and Spanish-language Indigenous authors, Indigenous authors from Mexico, Chicana/o authors, Indigenous-language authors, works in translation, and ""lost"" or underappreciated texts.In a place and time when Indigenous people often have to contend with representations that marginalize or devalue their intellectual and cultural heritage, this collection is a testament to Indigenous resilience and creativity. It shows that the ways in which we read, listen, and tell play key roles in how we establish relationships with one another, and how we might share knowledges across cultures, languages, and social spaces.

Read, Listen, Tell collects a brilliant and vast array of indigenous short fiction, bolstered by insightful critical essays that prioritize indigenous voices, culture, and methodologies. -- Clarissa Goldsmith -- Foreword Reviews, 20170729, If you want a primer on Indigenous cultural expressions, this is for you. If you want deft, detailed stories in Indigenous written, oral, and graphic traditions, these will expand your thinking. Read, Listen, Tell will make you laugh, dream, and search for more. -- Niigaan Sinclair -- CBC Books, 20170623, A unique compendium that is the direct result of outstanding and painstaking scholarship, Read, Listen, Tell: Indigenous Stories from Turtle Island is an impressively informative, deftly organized, and exceptionally well presented volume that is unreservedly recommended for both community and academic library Indigenous Cultural Studies collections and supplemental reading lists. -- Midwest Book Review, The strength of this anthology isn't just in its breadth of content or the high quality of the selected stories; it's first and foremost in the prioritization of the voices included--their complexities, their complications, and their identities, all wonderfully and honestly presented. -- Publishers Weekly, Most impressive about this anthology is the mixture of texts.There are traditional stories, contemporary short stories, poetry, and anthropological texts, but most notable are the visual texts, such as the excerpt from Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas's Red: A Haida Manga. This off ers readers a window into Indigenous artists as using unexpected genres in order to establish simultaneously an Indigenous and a global perspective. ... a refreshing anthology. -- Meredith K. James -- American Indian Quarterly, 20180901

Sophie McCall is an associate professor in the Department of English at Simon Fraser University, where she teaches Indigenous literatures and contemporary Canadian literature. Her most recent publication, with co-editor, Gabrielle L'Hirondelle Hill, is The Land We Are: Artists and Writers Unsettle the Politics of Reconciliation (2015). Deanna Reder (Cree-Métis) is an associate professor in the Departments of First Nations Studies and English at Simon Fraser University. She serves as editor for the Indigenous Studies series at WLU Press and was one of the founding members of the Indigenous Literary Studies Association. She teaches and publishes on Indigenous theory, life writing, pop fiction, and gender and sexuality. David Gaertner is a settler scholar of German descent and an instructor in the First Nations and Indigenous Studies Program at the University of British Columbia, where he specializes in digital storytelling. He is also a co-editor of Read, Listen, Tell: Indigenous Stories from Turtle Island. Gabrielle L'Hirondelle Hill is a Metis writer and artist from Vancouver, BC, which lies on unceded Coast Salish territory. Hill's practice investigates struggles over land use and occupation, as well as black markets and unofficial economies.