This week, we present part one of our two-part conversation with Darrel McLeod, whose memoir recently won this year's Governor-General’s award for non-fiction.

Also joining host/producer Rick Harp for this special edition of the roundtable: Rick's mom, Jane Glennon (née McCallum).

According to the jury that awarded McLeod the $25,000 prize, "MAMASKATCH: A Cree Coming of Age dares to immerse readers in provocative contemporary issues including gender fluidity, familial violence, and transcultural hybridity. A fast-moving, intimate memoir of dreams and nightmares—[it is] lyrical and gritty, raw and vulnerable, told without pity, but with phoenix-like strength."

Earlier this month, we three Cree sat in Sooke, BC together to reflect on Darrel's life stories, their often tumultuous trajectory, and what eventually brought them into being on the printed page.