Dystopian Indigenous Insight: Waubgeshig Rice’s Ocean County Library Virtual Author Talk

TOMS RIVER – If an unimaginable calamity befell global infrastructures, everyday life would screech to a halt. But what of people who never fully left their old ways behind? It’s a key point of Waubgeshig Rice’s eagerly anticipated Moon of the Turning Leaves. Join this celebrated author in his Ocean County Library Virtual Author Talk, 7 PM Tuesday, February 11.

Moon of the Turning Leaves (2024) is a stirring story of Indigenous identity, survival and rebirth that carries forward from Rice’s internationally bestselling 2018 debut Moon of the Crusted Snow. Both are available in print or digital formats at the Ocean County Library.

The sequel brings the reader a decade past the mysterious blackout that threw the world into anarchy. Evan Whitesky led villagers into the wild to rekindle their Anishinaabe ways and live off the land. They’re resilient but as their resources dwindle, Evan and his 15-year-old daughter are appointed to lead a scouting party back to their northern Ontario homeland. What’s left that is familiar? What is salvageable? And what unknown dangers have grown since they’ve been away?

Originally from the Wasauksing First Nation, Rice first came to prominence as a reporter for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and as host of CBC’s Up North. He won the Independent Publishers Book Award for his short story compilation Midnight Sweatlodge. The Anishinabek Nation bestowed its Debwewin Citation for excellence in First Nation Storytelling in 2014.

Please register at https://libraryc.org/theoceancountylibrary to attend this free program, to view the upcoming schedule, and to view previous talks. Registrants will receive links to the program by email and may submit questions for the author during signup.

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