Spells, Wishes, and the Talking Dead
mamahtawisiwin, pakosêyimow, nikihci-âniskotâpân
A brilliant collection weaving history, personal experience, and Indigenous resilience
Spells, Wishes, and the Talking Dead: ᒪᒪᐦᑖᐃᐧᓯᐃᐧᐣ ᐸᑯᓭᔨᒧᐤ ᓂᑭᐦᒋ ᐋᓂᐢᑯᑖᐹᐣ mamahtâwisiwin, pakosêyimow, nikihci-âniskotâpân is a wonder. With inspiring defiance, John-Kehewin plays with form, space, and language, demonstrating which magics cannot be suppressed. Here is an unflinching look at colonialism’s sickening trail: its ongoingdetriment to the safety and mental health of Indigenous people, its theft of language, and its intergenerational harms. But here also is the unrelenting power of resistance, and the great strength in truth. Wanda John-Kehewin “stands in her truth” so that other survivors may stand in theirs.
Wanda John-Kehewin is a Cree writer who came to Vancouver, BC, from the Prairies on a Greyhound when she was nineteen and pregnant – carrying a bag of chips, thirty dollars, and a bit of hope. Wanda has been writing about the near-decimation of Indigenous cultures, languages, and traditions as a means to process history and trauma that allows her to stand in her truth and to share that truth openly. Wanda has published poetry, children’s books, graphic novels, and a middle-grade reader with hopes of reaching others who are trying to make sense of the world around them, especially if they think they come from nowhere and don’t belong either. With many years of travelling the healing path (well, mostly stumbling), she brings personal experience of healing to share with others. Wanda is a mother of five children, one dog, two cats, and three tiger barbs, and grandmother to one super-cute granddog.
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