Title: OUR VOICE OF FIRE
Subtitle: A MEMOIR OF A WARRIOR RISING
Author: BRANDI MORIN
Release Date: AUGUST 2, 2022
Genre: NON-FICTION, BIOGRAPHIES AND MEMOIRS, INDIGENOUS PEOPLES, MULTICULTURAL INTEREST
Number Of Pages: 232 PAGES
Publisher: HOUSE OF ANANSI PRESS
Received From: EDELWEISS
ISBN: 978-1487010577
Rating: 5 OUT OF 5 STARS ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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DESCRIPTION:
A wildfire of a debut memoir by internationally recognized French/Cree/Iroquois journalist Brandi Morin set to transform the narrative around Indigenous Peoples.
Brandi Morin is known for her clear-eyed and empathetic reporting on Indigenous oppression in North America.
She is also a survivor of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls crisis and uses her experience to tell the stories of those who did not survive the rampant violence.
From her time as a foster kid and runaway who fell victim to predatory men and an oppressive system to her career as an internationally acclaimed journalist, Our Voice of Fire chronicles Morin’s journey to overcome enormous adversity and find her purpose, and her power, through journalism.
This compelling, honest book is full of self-compassion and the purifying fire of a pursuit for justice.
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MY REVIEW:
Content warning: rape, child abuse, racism, intergenerational trauma, suicide, and loss of a pregnancy.
Honest, compelling, and
one hundred percent real.
Brandi Morin is my new hero because she tells it like it is. No molly-coddling, no sugar coating, no lies to spare the reader from the ugliness of genuine truth.
Brandi Morin’s bravery is nothing short of inspirational. Her book: OUR VOICE OF FIRE is a memoir of her life. It is also a truthful (and sometimes ugly) look at the effect colonialism has had on Canada’s Indigenous peoples.
When Brandi discovered that her beloved kohkum (grandmother) had kept a journal of sorts, it set her on a new path in life.
“Each small scrap of paper, each page in her journal, fed the spark of curiosity within until it was a roaring fire of need. [Brandi] needed to know more. About Kohkum. About [herself]. About [her] people.”
Brandi writes:
“Without my even realizing it, my feet were set on a new path. Over the next few years, I began to hunt for the truth…”
That path has led her to become a nationally recognized voice for Indigenous peoples, and ultimately led to the creation of this book.
Honesty is always the best policy in my opinion, however, Canada has continually glossed over the dark parts of its history. Brandi Morin’s journalism career calls the government out on their hypocrisy and on the deeply embedded and systemic racism that exists to this day.
In writing this memoir, Brandi is speaking out for all those women and girls, past and present, who have had their voices silenced in a variety of ways.
She is also speaking out for herself despite the fact that; “Sometimes it feels easier and kinder to just leave those smoking memories alone, protecting myself and my loved ones with silence.”
But, Brandi has learned that
“… silence is a tool of violence used against [her] people for generations in the attempt to erase and eradicate [them].”
There is a belief held by Indigenous Peoples that trauma is intergenerational and that, on average, it takes seven generations to rid a family of the effects of that trauma. If that family experiences more trauma, such as the Residential School System, the Sixties Scoop, and the ongoing, deeply ingrained systemic racism of Canada today, those seven generations start all over again.
As heart-wrenching as it must have been for her, Brandi bares her soul in this memoir.
“I endured beatings and verbal abuse from my mother, who was unwittingly passing along her inheritance of trauma and violence to me. There are bloody encounters that I can clearly picture today, but I won’t go into details. My dad would sometimes choke me against the wall until I was close to passing out at the requests from my mother to ‘deal with me’…”
Sadly, Brandi’s experiences are far from unique.
This must stop and it is through the publication of books such as this one that people are able to learn the truth and to actively seek to change things for the better.
OUR VOICE OF FIRE should be required reading for everyone, especially for anyone who doubts the lingering effects of familial trauma.
I rate this book as 7 out of 7 Stars
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
If you are interested in raw, unapologetic honesty, OUR VOICE OF FIRE by Brandi Morin is a Must Read.
*** Thank you to #Edelweiss for providing me with a free copy of this book. ***
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
BRANDI MORIN is an award-winning French/Cree/Iroquois journalist from Treaty 6, Alberta, Canada.
For the last ten years Brandi has specialized in sharing Indigenous stories, which have influenced reconciliation in Canada’s political, cultural, and social environments.
She is one of Canada’s most prominent voices on Indigenous issues.
Brandi has published or broadcasted with the New York Times, National Geographic, the Guardian, the Toronto Star, Al Jazeera English, Vice, Elle Canada, CBC’s Power & Politics , and the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network National News, among many other outlets.
Brandi won a Human Rights Reporting award from the Canadian Association of Journalists for her work with the CBC’s Beyond 94 project tracking the progress of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action.
To learn more about this author visit the following links:
ABOUT THE PUBLISHER:
Before there was a literary scene in Canada, writers Dennis Lee and David Godfrey founded House of Anansi Press to publish poetry. It was the heyday of hippie Yorkville, when Toronto teemed with draft dodgers and their youthful American energy, and Canada was celebrating Expo 67 and its 100th anniversary.
Change was in the air, and Canadians wanted to read books written by Canadians. Anansi expanded to publish authors such as Michael Ondaatje, Matt Cohen, Northrop Frye, Erín Moure, and Margaret Atwood (who worked here as an editor).
Now under the ownership of Scott Griffin, House of Anansi Press is Canada’s leading independent publisher. We continue to break new ground with award-winning and bestselling books that reflect the changing nature of the world and the country, and we help shape the national conversation with the publication of the annual CBC Massey Lectures (in conjunction with University of Toronto’s Massey College and CBC Ideas) with contributors like Martin Luther King, Jr., Ursula Franklin, and Tanya Talaga. Anansi continues to publish poetry, as well as fiction, nonfiction, drama, French-Canadian writers in translation, lifestyle, and authors from around the world. We take pride in finding and developing talent, publishing Indigenous, Black, and less mainstream writers, and firing up the imagination with Very Good Books.
House of Anansi Press respectfully acknowledges that the land on which we operate is the Traditional Territory of many Nations, including the Anishinabeg, the Wendat and the Haudenosaunee. It is also the Treaty Lands of the Mississaugas of the Credit.
To learn more about this Publisher visit the following links:
OFFICIAL WEBSITE
https://houseofanansi.com
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