A Steady Brightness of Being: Truths, Wisdom, and Love from Celebrated Indigenous Voices

Bringing together voices from across Turtle Island, a groundbreaking collection of letters from Indigenous writers, activists, and thinkers--to their ancestors, to future generations, and to themselves.

Drawing on the wisdom and personal experience of its esteemed contributors, this first-of-its-kind anthology tackles complex questions of our times to provide a rich tapestry of Indigenous life, past, present, and future. These peace offerings--to settlers, to one another, to readers--explore the histories that have brought us to this moment, the challenges and crises faced by present-day communities, and the visions that will lead us to a new architecture for thinking about Indigeneity.

Including contributions from film actress and television writer Tamara Podemski, Governor General’s Award-winning author David A. Robertson, and arts journalist Jesse Wente, and taking its structure from the medicine bundle--tobacco, sage, cedar, and sweetgrass--this beautiful collection will stir and empower readers, as well as enrich an essential and ongoing conversation about what reconciliation looks like and what it means to be Indigenous today.

STEPHANIE SINCLAIR is Publisher of McClelland & Stewart, an imprint of Penguin Random House Canada. She is a Cree, Ojibwe, and German/Jewish settler. She is a fierce advocate and activist, serving as a mentor and curator, and organizing publishing events to challenge colonial practices in publishing and to advance the work of reconciliation. She lives in Hamilton, Ontario, with her two children.

SARA SINCLAIR is an oral historian of Cree-Ojibwa, German/Jewish, and British descent. Sara teaches in the Oral History Masters Program at Columbia University. She is the editor of How We Go Home: Voices from Indigenous North America and gave a TEDx talk on ＂Why We Need to Amplify Indigenous Voices＂ in 2021. She lives in New York, New York.