2. Indigenous Voices: Truth, Fiction and Family - The FOLD
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Home Festival & Events The Festival of Literary Diversity FOLD 2022 2. Indigenous Voices: Truth, Fiction and Family

2. Indigenous Voices: Truth, Fiction and Family

Virtual Event

Description

Award-winning authors Jesse Wente, Katherena Vermette and Clayton Thomas-Müller discuss their most recent titles and the process of crafting stories about family in a conversation on relationships, writing and resistance.

Date: May 1, 2022
Time: 12:00 pm – 1:15 pm ET

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How to Register

Guests can choose from three types of passes for FOLD 2022:

  • Virtual Events Only Passes ($35)
  • Virtual Plus In-Person Events Passes ($45)
  • In-Person Only Passes ($15)

GET YOUR FESTIVAL PASS HERE

Secondary school educators can choose a special Educator pass (with the same virtual and in-person options), which allow them to create a Student Access Login which their students can use to log on to individual devices.

Bundle passes are available for groups of five educators who wish to reduce the price of their pass by buying in bulk.

School discounts and board discounts are available by request until early April.

GET YOUR EDUCATOR PASS HERE

On a Budget? Check out our Patron Pass program.

Featured Speaker(s)

A middle-aged Indigenous man with short dark hair and a mustache. He wears a dark t-shirt and holds a book, titled LIFE IN THE CITY OF DIRTY WATER. He also wears a dark baseball cap.
Clayton Thomas-Müller
Bio
Black and white photo of a middle-aged Indigenous woman with long dark hair, sitting against a landscape photo and looking off to her left.
katherena vermette
Bio
A middle-aged Indigenous man with short dark hair and black-rimmed glasses.
Jesse Wente
Bio
An Indigenous woman with short spike grey hair, wearing a grey hoodie, holds her hands out in front of her with her elbows bent upward. She wears glasses.
January Rogers
Bio
A middle-aged Indigenous man with short dark hair and a mustache. He wears a dark t-shirt and holds a book, titled LIFE IN THE CITY OF DIRTY WATER. He also wears a dark baseball cap.

Clayton Thomas-Müller

Clayton Thomas-Müller is a member of the Treaty #6 based Mathias Colomb Cree Nation–also known as Pukatawagan–located in Northern Manitoba, Canada. Based in Winnipeg, Clayton is a senior campaign specialist with 350.org. Clayton is a campaigner, award winning film director, media producer, organizer, facilitator, public speaker and best selling author on Indigenous rights and environmental & economic justice. His latest book is Life in the City of Dirty Water.

Black and white photo of a middle-aged Indigenous woman with long dark hair, sitting against a landscape photo and looking off to her left.

katherena vermette

katherena vermette (she/elle) is a Red River Métis (Michif) writer from Treaty 1 territory, the heart of the Métis Nation. She has worked in poetry, novels, children’s literature, and film. vermette received the Governor General’s Literary Award for Poetry for her first book, North End Love Songs (The Muses’ Company). The Break (House of Anansi) won several awards including the Amazon.ca First Novel Award, and was a bestseller in Canada. Her second novel, The Strangers (Hamish Hamilton) won the Atwood Gibson Writers Trust Fiction Prize and was named Chapters Indigo’s Book of the Year 2021.

A middle-aged Indigenous man with short dark hair and black-rimmed glasses.

Jesse Wente

Jesse Wente is an Anishinaabe author, speaker and arts administrator. His first book, Unreconciled: Family Truth and Resistance is a national bestseller.

An Indigenous woman with short spike grey hair, wearing a grey hoodie, holds her hands out in front of her with her elbows bent upward. She wears glasses.

January Rogers

Janet Marie Rogers (January) is a poet, media producer, new publisher and a sound/performance artist living and working on her home territory, Six Nations of the Grand River. She has 7 published poetry collections and many media projects including a soon to be released 10 episode web series NDNs on the Airwaves which she wrote and produced.

The FOLD is a remarkable and wonderful event for authors and attendees alike. What an amazing community, dedicated to the vital need for inclusive stories and the critical role they play in building a better world.

Soraya Chemaly, author of Rage Becomes Her

Field Guide to the North American Teenager is my first novel and FOLD was my first Canadian literary festival. While American and Canadian culture overlap quite a bit, especially when it comes to bookshelves, Canadian literature is unique and I was very heartened by to be embraced by that community I consider home despite residing in the US. It was a homecoming I didn’t know I needed!

Ben Philippe, author of Field Guide to the North American Teenager

The Festival of Literary Diversity was an absolute joy–the organizers thought of *everything* and by anticipating authors’ needs, they freed us to focus on connecting with the audience and each other. There was no pretension, no posturing–just very genuine conversations with invested writers and engaged readers.

Zetta Elliott, author of Dragons in a Bag

I have been to a lot of writers festivals and the FOLD is definitely near the top of the list of those I want to be invited back to.

Harold Johnson, author of the memoirs Clifford and Firewater

Being part of such a clearly diverse, inclusive and mutually respectful group was thrilling and inspiring: a glimpse of a better world.

Kathy Page, author of Dear Evelyn, winner of the 2018 Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize

Wherever I go in Canada and find another writer of colour, we eventually end up gushing about how great the FOLD is, how by normalizing diversity it liberates us to talk to audiences about craft. It’s hard to imagine the literary landscape returning to a prehistoric pre-FOLD era.

Ian Williams, Author of the Giller Prize-winning novel Reproduction

FOLD is a festival experience unlike any other I’ve had. The FOLD team strive to create a space that’s welcoming and engaging, while allowing for curiosity, ingenuity and the fostering of real community – and they succeed, every year.

Alicia Elliott, author of A Mind Spread Out On The Ground

The FOLD is one of the most important literary events on this continent. By focusing on diverse voices and giving authors space to share their stories and speak their truths, it is revolutionizing the writing and storytelling realm as we know it.

Waubgeshig Rice, author of Moon Of The Crusted Snow

Being part of the FOLD community has provided me with a strong sense of belonging. Sharing diverse stories and listening to different voices that broaden my understanding of the world has impacted me as a person and motivated me as a writer.

Ann Y.K. Choi, author of Kay’s Lucky Coin Variety

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