Brian Maracle – författare

NATIONAL BESTSELLER A raw, powerful portrait of Indigenous resilience drawn from stories of pain, survival, and cultural revival that challenge stereotypes and spark an essential conversation on healing and truth.In a country still reckoning with the legacy of colonialism, Crazywater is more timely and necessary than ever.Brian Maracle, a Mohawk journalist and former host of CBC’s Our Native Land, offers an unflinching collection of seventy-five voices from across Turtle Island—voices that speak honestly about Indigenous experiences with alcohol, trauma, and healing. Drawn from over 200 interviews, this book is not another government report or academic analysis—it is a national story, told by the people who have lived it.With Indigenous communities still facing the intergenerational aftershocks of residential schools, systemic racism, land theft, and cultural erasure, these stories resonate deeply in today’s Canada. This is not just a book about addiction—it is a book about survival, resurgence, and the strength of spirit. Maracle complicates degrading stereotypes, revealing the deep roots of pain but also the powerful growth of culture, language, and spiritual revival that has taken hold in communities across the land.At a time when Indigenous health, mental wellness, and sovereignty are front and centre in national conversations, Crazywater offers a humanizing, clear-eyed contribution. It dares to speak the truth about the costs of colonization, and insists that healing is possible. Crazywater is a testament to pain, but more importantly, to hope, honesty, and the unstoppable will to reclaim life, one story at a time.

FINALIST FOR THE GORDON MONTADOR AWARD FOR THE BEST BOOK ON SOCIAL ISSUES A GLOBE AND MAIL EDITOR'S CHOICE “Highly readable and of extraordinary value.” —The Globe and Mail A deeply personal journey of Indigenous reclamation, belonging, and the power of language.More than thirty years after its original publication, Back on the Rez remains a landmark work in Indigenous storytelling and self-reclamation. Brian Maracle—journalist, broadcaster, and Mohawk of the Six Nations of the Grand River—tells the deeply honest story of his return to the community he left decades earlier. Trading his life in downtown Toronto for a home on the reserve, he confronts the divide between urban survival and traditional connection, between English and the revitalizing power of the Mohawk language.This edition speaks directly to a new generation navigating similar crossroads—between cities and communities, colonial systems and cultural renewal, burnout and belonging. At a time when language preservation, land stewardship, and Indigenous resurgence are urgent national priorities, Maracle’s reflections are more relevant than ever. He writes not as an expert, but as someone walking back into his culture with humility, curiosity, and clarity.Unflinching and wise, Back on the Rez offers readers a rare glimpse into what it really means to come home—not just geographically, but spiritually and politically. This is a clear-eyed memoir about what it means to belong and a powerful account of returning not just to a place, but to a way of being.