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Waubgeshig Rice is an author and journalist originally from Wasauksing First Nation, Ontario. 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. He works as a multi-platform journalist for the CBC in Sudbury, Ont. In 2014, he received the Anishinabek Nation's Debwewin Citation for Excellence in First Nation Storytelling. His latest novel is Moon of the Crusted Snow (ECW Press).
On your nightstand now:
Jonny Appleseed by Joshua Whitehead, Split Tooth by Tanya Tagaq, The Tiger Flu by Larissa Lai, The Boat People by Sharon Bala and a few ARCs by exciting authors that I'm eager to dive into.
Favorite book when you were a child:
I read the first three books in Stephen King's Dark Tower series by the time I was 12, and those really locked me into the fantasy genre for the rest of my teenage years. That also opened the door to science fiction for me, which also changed my reading life.
Your top five authors:
Richard Wagamese, Lee Maracle, Thomas King, Richard Van Camp, Eden Robinson.
Book you've faked reading:
I haven't fake-read any books, but there are many I haven't finished. I started Moby-Dick by Herman Melville last summer, but I'm still not through it. One of my favourite albums of all time--Leviathan by Mastodon--is based on it, so I wanted to know the origins of some of the references. I'll try again this summer!
Book you're an evangelist for:
The Lesser Blessed by Richard Van Camp is one of the quintessential novels about the young Indigenous experience. I read it in my early 20s, and it touched me unlike any other book had. At that point in my life, it was one of the few times I'd seen experiences similar to mine reflected on the page. Although it was published more than two decades ago, its characters and themes are still deeply resonant today.
Book you've bought for the cover:
The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka. I think pretty much any edition has a beetle or cockroach on the cover. I'd heard about the book as a teen, and as soon as I saw it, I knew I had to buy it. I don't think I've read it since, though.
Book you hid from your parents:
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson, but only because of all the drug use and references. Little did I know my parents weren't really concerned about that. They probably preferred me reading about drugs to actually doing them.
Book that changed your life:
Green Grass, Running Water by Thomas King, because it was a widely revered novel in the Canadian mainstream about Indigenous people. It was one of the first books I read by an Indigenous author, and it opened my eyes to the possibility of sharing our stories and experiences in this medium. It also made me laugh unlike any other book had.
Favorite line from a book:
"I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me." That's from Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison. I read that book shortly after moving to Toronto for university, and it taught me about the shared struggles of so-called marginalized peoples at a crucial time in my life. Black, Indigenous and many other people of color have to work harder to have their voices heard, and I felt a real kinship with the protagonist and his wider community.
Five books you'll never part with:
Islands of Decolonial Love by Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, There There by Tommy Orange, The Break by Katherena Vermette, A Mind Spread Out on the Ground by Alicia Elliott,and In the Cage by Kevin Hardcastle--on top of all the other books I already mentioned.
Book you most want to read again for the first time:
Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy, only because I've never reacted to any other book in that way.
Books you like to read to your child:
When I was the same age as my son (two), there weren't any widely available kids' books with Indigenous characters. Thankfully my wife and I can read him an array of children's titles by Indigenous authors and artists, like Little You by Richard Van Camp and Julie Flett; Blackflies by Robert Munsch and Jay Odjick; You Hold Me Up by Monique Gray Smith and Danielle Daniel; When We Were Alone by David A. Robertson and Julie Flett; and Sweetest Kulu by Celina Kalluk and Alexandria Neonakis.