The Sweet Bloods of Eeyou Istchee
Stories of Diabetes and the James Bay Cree: Second Edition
Description
The second edition of the groundbreaking collection The Sweet Bloods of Eeyou Istchee includes an epilogue with an update on each storyteller.
Ruth DyckFehderau and twenty-seven storytellers offer a rich and timely accounting of contemporary life in Eeyou Istchee, the territory of the James Bay Cree of Northern Quebec. The stories are connected by diabetes, but they are not records of illness as much as they are deeply personal accounts of life in the North: the fine, swaying
balances of living both in town and on the land, of family and work and studies, of healing from relocations and residential school histories while building communities of safety and challenge and joy, of hunting and hockey, and much more.
Sweet Bloods is essential reading for anyone who knows anyone with diabetes, and for anyone interested in a contemporary rendering of one of Canada’s vibrant, thriving, and highly adaptive Indigenous communities.
This book is published by Cree Board of Health and Social Services of James Bay and distributed by WLU Press.
Awards
- Short-listed, National Indie Excellence (Health) and (Multicultural) 2018
- Winner, Silver IPPY Independent Publisher Book Awards 2018
- Short-listed, Foreword INDIES Editor's Choice 2017
- Winner, International Book Awards 2018
- Short-listed, Silver Foreword INDIES Book of the Year 2017
- Short-listed, Next Generation Indie Book Awards 2018
Reviews
The stories contained in The Sweet Bloods of Eeyou Istchee are incredible. They are life lessons, they are tales of warning, they are songs of resilience, they are prayers for a healthier life. Each one is its own entity, and each storyteller bravely and beautifully speaks out so that we all may begin our own healing journey. This is a must-read book. I've not seen something quite like it before.
- Joseph Boyden
This is an important book. In tis time, when our Cree communities and other Indigenous groups are facing down a brutal and pervasive diabetes epidemic, Sweet Bloods offers a Talking Circle in print: frank, funny, and emotional stories of James Bay Cree people living with the disease. What makes this book special is that we know these storytellers, and their stories are our stories. We recognize the effects of colonization in bodies, families, and communities -- and we see that the insights and love and laughter of these storytellers are stronger. We thank them for the courage to say what most of us will not say. Once you start this book, you'll want to read to the end.
- Bella M. Petawabano, Cree Board of Health and Social Services of James Bay
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