Niizhotay Stories: An Evening with Darrel J. McLeod

On this third National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, we once again honour treasured Elder and tireless community-builder Theodore Niizhotay Fontaine with Niizhotay Stories, an annual event which calls on us all to forge a healing path in the spirit of “two hearts.” For this year’s installment, we welcome Governor General’s Award-winning Cree author Darrel J. McLeod (author of Mamaskatch: A Cree Coming of Age and Peyakow: Reclaiming Cree Dignity) to Winnipeg to discuss his debut novel, A Season in Chezgh’un (Douglas & McIntyre). Featuring a conversation hosted by Dr. Jillian Horton. Co-presented by McNally Robinson Booksellers as part of THIN AIR 2023.

This event will be hosted live in the Atrium of McNally Robinson Booksellers, Grant Park and also available as a simultaneous YouTube stream. Before arriving, please review details of how to attend physical events at the store. The venue is accessible.

A Season in Chezgh’un is a subversive novel, infused with the contradictory triumph and pain of finding conventional success in a world that feels alien. It tells the story of James, a talented and conflicted Cree man from a tiny settlement in Northern Alberta, who has settled into a comfortable middle-class life in Kitsilano.

The untimely death of James’s mother propels him into a quest to reconnect with his roots. He secures a job as a principal in a remote northern Dakelh community but his encounters with poverty, cultural disruption and abuse conjure ghosts from his past that drive him toward self-destruction. During the single year he spends in northern BC, James takes solace in the richness of the Dakelh culture—the indomitable spirit of the people, and the splendour of nature—all the while fighting to keep his dark side from destroying his life.

Darrel J. McLeod is Cree from Treaty-8 territory in Northern Alberta. Before deciding to pursue writing, he worked as an educator, chief negotiator of land claims for the federal government and executive director of education and international affairs with the Assembly of First Nations. He holds degrees in French literature and education from the University of British Columbia. He currently lives in Sooke, BC, and divides his time between writing and singing in a jazz band.

Host Jillian Horton, M.D., is an award-winning medical educator, writer, musician and podcaster. She completed a residency and a fellowship in internal medicine at the University of Toronto and is Associate Professor of Internal Medicine at the University of Manitoba, where she has held a number of senior leadership roles. For eighteen years, she has cared for thousands of patients in an inner-city hospital. During that time, she had three sons and mentored hundreds of students. As a teacher of mindfulness, she is sought after by doctors at all stages of their careers. Horton completed a master’s in English at the University of Western Ontario before beginning her journey into the heart of medicine. She is a regular contributor to the Los Angeles Times, the Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star, Macleans, and numerous American media outlets by syndication. Her first book, We Are All Perfectly Fine: A Memoir of Love, Medicine and Healing is a national bestseller.