Waubgeshig Rice is an author and journalist from Wasauksing First Nation on Georgian Bay. His first short story collection, Midnight Sweatlodge, was inspired by his experiences growing up in an Anishinaabe community, and won an Independent Publishers Book Award in 2012. His debut novel, Legacy, followed in 2014. A French translation was published in 2017. His latest novel, Moon of the Crusted Snow, became a national bestseller and received widespread critical acclaim, including the Evergreen Award in 2019. His short stories and essays have been published in numerous anthologies.
His journalism experience began in 1996 as an exchange student in northern Germany, writing articles about being an Indigenous youth in a foreign country for newspapers back in Canada. He graduated from the journalism program at Toronto Metropolitan University in 2002. He spent most of his journalism career with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation as a video journalist, web writer, producer, and radio host. In 2014, he received the Anishinabek Nation’s Debwewin Citation for excellence in First Nation Storytelling. His final role with CBC was host of Up North, the afternoon radio program for northern Ontario. He left daily journalism in 2020 to focus on his literary career.
He currently lives in Sudbury, Ontario with his wife and children. His forthcoming novel, Moon of the Turning Leaves, will be published in October 202
Hi Waubgeshig: I came looking for you as I have missed you for a long timte on Winnipeg television and wondered where you went and what you are doing. I will look agan from time to time, as I wish y ou well in your search.
LL
Hi Waub:
Like Linda (Sept.20,2011) we too have missed you from the National broadcasting from Winnipeg. It was good visiting with your Grandma last summer and to hear about you living in Ottawa and writing a book.
We are so happy to see that the book is finished and that you are touring & doing readings. This is all such good news. You are a great journalist and we are looking forward to reading “Midnight Sweatlodge”.
Larry & I wish you well in your work and in your life, Waub.
We feel blessed that our paths crossed again while you were in Winnipeg.
All the best, Lois
Hi Waubgeshig:
Hi Waubgeshig:
I want to invite you to speak to a class I teach at Carleton on media policy. I woudl liek you to share your thoughts on media and broadcasting as an accomplished Aboriginal journalist. Date: Thursday evening November 17.
Look fwd to hearing from you and will provide more details.
Thanks
Andrew
Hi Waubgeshig:
Do you know where I can buy your book in Ottawa? Doesn’t look like there are any in stock at Chapters. I know I can order online but I was hoping to get my hands on a copy early this week.
Kindest regards,
Andrea
Hi Waub.
I hope it is ok to comment here. I was not sure how else to get in touch with you. I just wanted to say I say the video you put together in regards to our situation at the house. It is really well done and I want to say thank you. We are getting phone calls and emails from friends that watched it this evening.
Thank you again and again!!!!
Kevin
Please drop me a line.
Hi Waub,
Just wanted to say hi and that I am now an avid reader of your blog! I am an aspiring journalist who just moved to Vancouver from Winnipeg. I met you a few years back when you interviewed my cousin and I for CBC about our late cousin Tannis Bird who died in a car crash in ’07. I’ve been a fan of your work for a while now, and I hope to find your book somewhere soon!
Keep up the great work, you are inspiring! 🙂
Good day, Mr. Rice.
My name is Julianna Morin and I am a student in the Indigenous Studies
program at the University of Ottawa, under professor George Sioui and
Elder Rarihokwats.
I really love your reporting style, and wish, as I’m sure my fellow viwevers do, that we could see and hear you more! You consistently cover stories from a novel perspective and make invaluable insights into what’s going-on in this nation of ours.
I would be interested in opening-up a discussion with you about how you view your role in the Canadian decolonization movement, both as a self-identifying member of the Ojibway nation and as someone who is employed by a major, mainstream media outlet.
Any input you could offer – at your convenience, of course – would be
greatly appreciated! Thank you for your time.
Sincerely, Julianna Morin
Contact: jmori102@uottawa.ca
Hello Waub! So nice to find you here in your corner of the web! I’m working on a project scrapbooking our days as an exchange student in Germany and thought I would take a peak to see what old friends I could turn up online, and lo and behold, I came across your site!
So fun to see where life has taken you and I’d love to get my hands on a copy of your book sometime soon. Hope this short message finds you well!
With fond memories,
Jen Campbell (Nee Ottaway)
Hello Waub,
I too am a new author having just had my second book contracted to a publisher. The first was, ” King of Algonquin Park” and the second, a sequel or companion book is entitled, ” The King’ Ransom”. I find writing to be very much addictive, a very important part of my life.
I am a feared, that my mother was one of those church workers at an Indian residential school. however, she dearly loved the children, her father and grandfather having spent their lives working for and with Indian peoples. I have her photo album from seventy years ago. She didn’t read nursery rhymes to us, she told us the stories of all the beautiful little Indian children in her photo album.
Her grandfather, Jon Sampson Scarlett was a Crown Lands Agent in Ontario and a very good friend of the Ojibway Chief Musqua Ukee, a grand chief of the Muskoka tribes. Musqua Ukee actually gave his own name and then a given name to my great grandfather at the time he was made an honourary chief back in the 1880s. My great grandfather became Musqua Ukee Muskogee Kapa Wee Kapa Wits. That of course is a phonetic spelling as we only heard the name, never ever saw it written.
We are sooooooooo very proud of that Indian connection, but I search for a REAL genetic connection as when I hear drumming it sooooo stirs my heart that there HAS to be a genetic connection. It would have to be a mix of Indian and Dutch I think back in the state of New York back in the 1600s. I will not give up the search. I would be so proud to know I had Native heritage.
At least I do have a native fourth great uncle in the personage of the noble Shawnee Chief “Blue Jacket” who was a Chief prior to Tecumseth.
I m VERY MUCH looking forward to your writer’s workshop and to meeting you in Thessalon in September.
Paton
Hello, sir. I empathize with your keyboard stalemate, though it sounds like yours is in the past tense now. Thoughtful, vulnerable post about the writing life, and no, it didn’t feel overly self-referential or precious. Not to worry.
Should’ve/Wish I’d met you at the JRS Comeback event last month in Ottawa; I was waiting for/talking to John when you and your bride slipped out. Pardon my barging in here, but I’m coordinating the panel for the World Religion Day ’15 celebration at City Hall, and would love to hear from you and begin a conversation about that. Peace.
May I introduce my website: http://www.victoroconnell.com where you can find information about my new novel, Eaglechild. It centres on a boy, Rupert, who is the only son of an English Earl and a Spanish Countess. Rupert is drawn to the way of life of the First Nations of Canda and constructs a tipi on his father’s estate in Oxfordshire, England and invents an imaginary Cree friend. In 1982, when at Oxford University, he encounters an 83-year-old Cree elder who has come to England following a vision quest dream to meet the “White Queen” and confront Parliament about the treaties Britain made with his grandfather. Rupert gets involved in the First Nations constitutional campaign with surprising results. Meanwhile, a corrupt Canadian official working in the Canadian “embassy” causes a crisis forRupert and his father, the Earl. It is a tale of family, tribe, nation and the search for identity and includes references to residential schools, forced adoption, many aspects of spirituality and Indian sovereignty. t is uplifting and positive. I am offering a limited number of free copies of the e-book to anyone who would like to review it.
“Watching history unfold before your eyes, and then telling the rest of the country about it, is one of the greatest privileges of being a journalist. I was extremely grateful just to be there to capture some of the powerful spirit of that day”
you are no journalist. you are a drunk nations apologist getting free time from the cbc.
http://www.theprovince.com/life/Invermere+area+aboriginal+addictions+centre+closes+after+audit+into+expenses+wages/11610768/story.html
The Northern Ontario Book Fair will take place from June 24 to July 1, 2017 at Gillies Lake in Timmins, ON. Authors from anywhere in Northern Ontario are welcome to sell their books at the fair. You don’t pay anything up front to sell your books, and they can be sold all week. All we ask in exchange is that you volunteer to man the booth for at least two 5 hour shifts over the course of the week (or send a proxy to volunteer on your behalf) whenever is convenient. The shifts are from noon to 5 pm and 5pm to 10 pm everyday of the event. We will also collect at 10% consignment at the end of the week to help cover our administrative costs. We are running the event to coincide with Timmins’ Stars & Thunder festival to take advantage of the additional traffic. The City of Timmins anticipates up to 23,000 spectators over the course of the week. Let us know if you are interested. Thanks!
Dear Mr. Rice,
I am writing to you in the hopes that you might write a short blurb/ testimonial for my soon to be released novel, Svevi Avatar: Persecution of Constantina, which is a cross-genre work that explores what I find to be the 7 most compelling EcoSocial issues of our time: Indigenous peoples, environment, identity, gender violence, capitalism, health, and culture.
My editor is Lee Parpart, Co-President of the Canadian Authors Association — Toronto branch.
What if the power dynamics between Indigenous peoples and European colonizers were flipped? What if we lived in a world where the Europeans hadn’t succeeded in systematically pillaging the world’s peoples and their resources? What if Indigenous, aboriginal, and native peoples were still the guardians of their ancestral lands and environments? Svevi Avatar describes such an alternate timeline, in which a handful of predominantly male Europan leaders are on the cusp of implementing a devious plan to dominate the world. Will an ancient alliance of the world’s Indigenous peoples led by women be able to prevent colonization, plunder, and genocide?
Being an Indigenous woman from India, I write from diverse non-Eurocentric perspectives and have created the world of Svevi Avatar to explore (and educate about) non-patriarchal, non-Abrahamic, and non-capitalistic ways of being, and the psychological, environmental, and cultural repercussions of proselytization- and profit-driven imperialism.
Please let me know if I could send you the Press kit for the novel, which through stunning, original artwork describes the world of Svevi Avatar, its characters, the storylines, the author (me), and the 7 EcoSocial issues.
If you have time, please visit our two websites (and social media) linked below, which feature original music and artwork created for the Svevi Avatar universe by my team and myself, and more engaging and thought-provoking stories, articles, and videos.
I do hope to hear from you.
Thank you very much for your time and best wishes,
Maya Svevak
Boozhoo, Aanii,
So excited to hear about the sequel to Moon of the Crusted Snow.
I admired many things in your writing, but one keeps floating up, resurfacing.
The lack of sexualization, objectification. Was this a deliberate decision, or just a natural extension of your values?
I noticed it in the warmth of the exchanges between Evan and Nicole, but also in the absence of what other writers would have included- when the teen girls are at the party, when they are later found. I found myself mentally bracing for violence, a sinking feeling. Reading between the lines, sensing the danger, is a more sophisticated telling– and it was one less objectification out in the world. I think of the girls’ hair swishing as she walks by and think: that is beautiful, and so authentically written.
Chi miigwetch.
Mr Rice,
I am a recent immigrant to this beautiful country. I am learning new things every day, and continually finding things that interest and impress me. One of these was your book. I just wanted to say thank you for helping me on my journey.
I’m pleased to hear there will be a follow-up.
All the best
Dear Waubgeshig Rice,
My name is Heige Boehm and I’m the host of a recently launched podcast
http://www.awriterslife.co My goal is to showcase Canadian writers, poets, storytellers, songwriters, smaller publishing houses, agents, publishers and editors. I have followed your work and admire your writings. I would love to have the opportunity to interview you on A Writer’s Life.
I am part of an Indigenous-led team that is working on a museum exhibition on the Indigenous Peoples of the Muskoka region. We are trying to find people from each Nation in the region to write a short (150 word) description of your community and to help identify photographs, stories, and objects that represent the community. We were wondering if you might be interested and available to help with this for the Wasauksing First Nation. Or, if not, if you could introduce us to someone else from who could?
If this sounds of interest to you or if you have any questions, I’d be happy to send you more information and/or set up a call to discuss further.
Thank you very much for your time.
I really enjoyed your book. Thank you.