This week on rabble radio, Stephen Wentzell sits down with Joshua Whitehead, author of ‘Making Love with the Land.”
Whitehead is an Oji-Cree/nehiyaw, Two-Spirit/Indigiqueer member of Peguis First Nation (Treaty 1). He is the author of the novel ‘Jonny Appleseed’ (Arsenal Pulp Press), which was longlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize and shortlisted for a Governor General’s Literary Award in Fiction. He is also the author of the poetry collection ‘full-metal indigiqueer’ (Talonbooks), which was shortlisted for the inaugural Indigenous Voices Award for Most Significant Work of Poetry in English and the Stephan G. Stephansson Award for Poetry. Currently, he is working on a PhD in Indigenous Literatures and Cultures at the University of Calgary’s English department (Treaty 7).
Today, Whitehead explains to Wentzell about ‘Making Love with the Land’ – a book which is part memoir, part poetry, part literary criticism. Whitehead explains how this genre-bending of traditional colonial literary standards is a “radical act of freedom” and more similar to a Indigenous form of storytelling.
Whitehead also shares how touring for Jonny Appleseed and experiencing nature, break-ups, and isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic influenced his writing this book. Finally, Whitehead shares what truth and reconciliation means to him.
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