Praise for A Season in Chezgh''un: "McLeod has created a wonder: he''s resurrected the charm, humor and possibility from a world of inequity and disruption, filling his pages with human revelation. A Season in Chezgh''un is a work of affirmation and redemption. Most of all, it''s a profound exploration of soul-ache: for what was, what might''ve been and what''s still possible." --Adam Johnson, Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist "In this heartfelt debut novel, an embattled, idealistic Cree educator witnesses the enduring humanity of a remote Indigenous community, as their struggle to protect a traditional way of life triggers his own identity issues. Ultimately, this courageously truthful story offers an insightful and hopeful vision for education and Native youth." --Diane Wilson, author of The Seed Keeper "Memoirist McLeod ( Mamaskatch ) makes his fiction debut with a sublime foray into the complexities of Indigenous life in northern Canada.McLeod writes with great love for the natural world and the strength of its Indigenous people. This is transcendent.
" -- Publishers Weekly , Starred Review "A thought-provoking and immersive portrait of a remote Dakelh community and of James, the driven Indigiqueer educator who chooses to work there--a man who must struggle with structural injustices, conflicting demands, prejudice, and his own divided self. A deeply authentic novel, and one that is both educative and heartfelt." --Kathy Page, author of Dear Evelyn "McLeod moves confidently from the world of memoir to the new territory of the novel." --Michelle Good, author of Five Little Indians "Beautifully crafted, this novel is alive with dialogue that takes us into the hearts of characters too often left voiceless. Let this book sweep you away." --Kim Echlin, author of Speak, Silence "I know no other way to say this; there is a softness to this novel that dives into the trauma we as First Nations people live with. This softness of language and spirit speaks to the resilience which lives within not just the characters of this novel, but all of us. James, the main character, is way more resilient than his trauma or the world around him would have the reader believe.
" --Marcie Rendon, Anishinaabe author of the Cash Blackbear series "It is impossible to read A Season in Chezgh''un without feeling a privileged participant in an utterly authentic experience. a memorable novel." --The British Columbia Review Praise for Peyakow: "McLeod''s vibrant prose renders the world with tenderness and skill. His profound book is full of love and trouble that you won''t soon forget." -- Hilary Weston, Writers'' Trust Nonfiction Award Jury "McLeod reflects on his adulthood as a queer, Cree man working to improve life for other Native people in Canada in his moving latest . The result is a heartwrenching meditation on love, loss, and identity." --Publishers Weekly "Sheds welcome light on little-known aspects of the interaction of Indigenous peoples with politically dominant outsiders." --Kirkus Reviews "In a blend of drama, tragedy, and comedy, Peyakow is an epic tale of one man''s journey to find his culture and to help his people.
rich with personal experience and wisdom." --Alberta Native News "[T]akes the reader on [McLeod''s] personal odyssey and reveals the history of a country with a dark colonial mindset regarding Aboriginal people . Peyakow is a page turner." --ABC BookWorld (Canada) "Unflinching, honest, and powerful." --Andrew King, Secret Garden Bookshop (Seattle, Washington) Praise for Mamaskatch: Finalist for Canada Reads 2024 "Mamaskatch 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--lyrical and gritty, raw and vulnerable, told without pity, but with phoenix-like strength." --Jury Citation, Governor General''s Literary Award for Nonfiction "Mamaskatch reminded me of my childhood and the Indigenous people I love dearly. The hard and brilliant life breathing on the pages brought me to tears, to joy, and to grace.
Darrel J. McLeod tells a coming-of-age tale familiar to many Indigenous people, but our histories, and our families'' truths, are mostly unwritten. The work he''s doing is powerful and overdue." --Terese Marie Mailhot, author of Heart Berries "A haunting and joyful ode to the resilience of an often complicated, always extraordinary mother. Intimate and affecting, Mamaskatch asks complex questions about the legacies we inherit and the way in which self-invention is a crucial act of survival." --Esi Edugyan, author of Washington Black "Affecting and full of heart . Through these fragmented stories, we see McLeod navigating conflicting desires within his sexual, spiritual, and native identities, and ultimately thriving." --BuzzFeed "A dark book, but a hopeful one too, as McLeod finds ways of understanding and coming to terms with his complicated life .
McLeod tells [his story] movingly and beautifully." --Book Riot "Honestly stunning. McLeod''s clear writing lays bare his complicated ties to his family, his lovers and his country in a memoir that moved and haunted me." --Eden Robinson, author of Son of a Trickster "A heart-wrenching mîw'sin memoir full of vignettes that are so intricately woven that they guide you through with grace, s'kihiwêwin, humor, and maskihkîy. This is a narrative built through continuums that detail the lives of the McLeod family through their queer travails, trans realities, bannock and stew conversations, and a plethora of intergenerational traumas and triumphs. I can feel the warm embrace of the Three Sisters wrapping around me as I read this, that heart-drum beat resounding beneath its literary cadences, the frigidity of the Athabasca kissing my heels, and a narrator who teaches me from his very first passage in this memoir that a good story is a medicine song that re-members and re-animates, in true nehiyawewin fashion, those who have paved the way for us and those for whom we pave." --Joshua Whitehead, author of Jonny Appleseed "Lyrically written and linked by family, compassion, forgiveness, and hope, Mamaskatch sings out as a modern-day celebration of healing." --Kirkus Reviews "McLeod''s memoir is one that will get under your skin for so many reasons, and then live there.
The horrors of residential schools, the complications of being Indigenous in a world that wishes we would go away, and family ties that stretch to the point of breaking in almost every way imaginable, not to mention struggles with identity and sexuality. It may sound like too much for one narrative to support, but McLeod handles it with the light, magical touch of a born storyteller. This story is one you won''t soon forget. Heartbreaking, uplifting, terrifying . yes, all these things, and more." --Chris La Tray, Fact & Fiction (Missoula, Montana) "The poignant reflections of a Cree family in 20th century Canada, Mamaskatch is one of the best memoirs I''ve experienced!" --Randy Schiller, Left Bank Books (St. Louis, Missouri).