Stories from the Magic Canoe of Waxaid

(Paperback)

---

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

MARKETING & PROMO:

Regional and subject-specific print features, excerpts, review coverage, broadcast and television interviews

Publicity and promotion in conjunction with author's speaking engagements

Outreach to subject-specific organizations, markets and festivals

Blogger outreach, online ads and social media campaigns

Excerpts available

Electronic ARCs

KEY SELLING POINTS:

The paperback edition serves as a companion to the major biography of Cecil Paul (Wa'xaid) by Briony Penn, Following the Good River: The Life and Times of Wa'xaid

The story of Cecil Paul and the Indigenous communities surrounding Kitimat will continue to be in the public eye for years to come due to the constant development of pipelines along the BC coastal and northern landscapes

The writing is lyrical, elegiac, and presented in a way that celebrates Cecil Paul's vernacular style and the oral tradition

The hardcover edition of Stories from the Magic Canoe was a BC Bestseller

This new format reprint includes minor corrections

Reviews

Praise for Stories from the Magic Canoe:

Important background reading in a time of #Canada #FirstNations clashes Margaret Atwood (via Twitter)

The Magic Canoe brings peace to ones soul. It is a warm wind moving our hearts. Waxaid takes us on a journey that regenerates and empowers us. Tismista, the stone hunter, looks down on the Magic Canoe and reminds us to listen to storytellers like Cecil Paul. This is a story for the family of man; we are all in the canoe together and our stories need to be shared with each other. Roy Henry Vickers

We can learn from Waxaid. Its a lesson for the work we have ahead. We can ill-afford exclusivity. Everyone who is willing to paddle must be welcome aboard the Magic Canoe. Adam Olsen, MLA North Saanich

The Magic Canoe is a story of resilience and resistance, as it details the struggles Paul has faced, struggles that are put in the larger history and context of settler colonialism. BC Studies

This book is a welcome read for those interested in the history of conservation in British Columbia, the practice of Indigenous memoir, and the specifics of colonial history in Canada. BC Studies

It is the combination of two stories, the oral history and the archival history, that makes Stories From the Magic Canoe of Waxaid a powerful model of Indigenous history. BC Studies

we are invited in to these stories as if we are in his living room. BC Studies

[Stories from the Magic Canoe of Waxaid] is a valuable contribution to Indigenous history, in the vein of books like Tshaukuesh Elizabeth Penashues Nitinikiau Innusi: I Keep the Land Alive (2019) and Johnny Neyelles The Man Who Lived with a Giant (2019). BC Studies

To read the book is one kind of act of hope, because the book is so clearly a collaboration. Waxaid told his stories to others, including Briony Penn, a settler, who transcribed and extensively annotated them, and then they were published by Rocky Mountain Books, itself run by settlers. The hope is that Waxaids truths are amplified and not bent by the collaboration that publishing such a book in Canada requires. The hope is that Waxaid has in Penn and the publisher models of how other settlers might ally with Indigenous people making their case for ending colonization. -The Tyee

Required reading for all British Columbians. This powerfully told biography brings to life the teachings of Xenaksiala Elder Cecil Paul. In it, he tells the story of how he brought not only his community, but allies from all over the world together to save the Kitlope, the place of his birth and the largest contiguous old growth temperate rainforest on Earth. This book [Stories from the Magic Canoe of Waxaid] offers a glimpse of what reconciliation could look like from an Indigenous perspective. -Loose Lips Mag

Author Bio

Cecil Paul, also known by his Xenaksiala name, Waxaid, is a respected elder, activist, and orator, and one of the last fluent speakers of his peoples language. Now in his late 80s, Cecil still lives in his ancestors traditional territory, and his work protecting the Kitlope continues to this day. Roy Henry Vickers is a renowned carver, painter and printmaker. He is the co-author of Harbour Publishing's popular children's Northwest Coast Legends series, all of which were shortlisted for the Bill Duthie Booksellers' Choice Award: Raven Brings the Light in 2014, Cloudwalker in 2015, Orca Chief in 2016 and Peace Dancer in 2017. He lives in Hazelton, BC.