Solitary Raven-Selected Writings of Bill Reid

Page 23

Edited by Robert Bringhurst

250 pgs. (hc) $40.00

Douglas & McIntyre

Although renowned for his work in the visual arts, Haida sculptor Bill Reid worked with words as well as wood, working as a radio announcer and script writer before he received his first large carving commission in 1958. Now, two years after Reid's death, a selection of his writings have been gathered and published in book form.

The writings have been collected from many sources, including radio broadcasts, newspapers and magazines, exhibition catalogues, and speaking notes. Some of the pieces have never been published until now.

In addition to the writings, the book also includes some of Reid's drawings and photographs of some of his carvings and other work, along with photos of the artist at work.

ah-ayitaw isi e-ki-kiskeyihtahkik maskihkiy = They Knew Both Sides of Medicine: Cree Tales of Curing and Cursing Told by Alice Ahenakew

Edited and translated by H.C. Wolfart & Freda Ahenakew

314 pgs (sc)

The University of Manitoba Press

The book is made up of stories told by Alice Ahenakew, who shares her personal reminiscences of her life. Ahenakew was born in 1912, and was raised in Sturgeon Lake in north-central Saskatchewan after the death of her mother during the flu epidemic of 1918. She tells of the epidemic in the book, along with stories of her childhood, and her courtship and marriage to Andrew Ahenakew, who later became a well-known Anglican priest and Cree healer. The stories tell of encounters with a windigo, as well as recollections of visions and curses.

Ahenakew's stories are presented both in Cree and in English, and the book includes a Cree-English glossary.