One Book One Brant Author Event

1:30 PM - 3:00 PM

Event Details

Black Water by David A. Robertson ... Let's Read Together!

For the uninitiated the concept is simple: Borrow a copy of Black Water by David A. Robertson from the Library beginning Thursday, January 27 (advance holds will be taken starting January 13).  Readers are automatically entered into our prize draw.

One Book One Brant Author Event: Hear David A. Robertson Live! 

Free program; registration required as space is limited.

Don't have a Library card? Complete our online application form for your free membership!

A link to access the workshop via Zoom will be provided in an email to participants the morning of the event. BE SURE TO CHECK YOUR JUNK MAIL FOLDER. You can view system requirements here: https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/201362023-System-Requirements-for-PC-Mac-and-Linux

Free Program.  Registration Required.

About the book

In this bestselling memoir, a son who grew up away from his Indigenous culture takes his Cree father on a trip to the family trapline and finds that revisiting the past not only heals old wounds but creates a new future

The son of a Cree father and a white mother, David A. Robertson grew up with virtually no awareness of his Indigenous roots. His father, Dulas—or Don, as he became known—lived on the trapline in the bush in Manitoba, only to be transplanted permanently to a house on the reserve, where he couldn’t speak his language, Swampy Cree, in school with his friends unless in secret. David’s mother, Beverly, grew up in a small Manitoba town that had no Indigenous people until Don arrived as the new United Church minister. They married and had three sons, whom they raised unconnected to their Indigenous history.

David grew up without his father’s teachings or any knowledge of his early experiences. All he had was “blood memory”: the pieces of his identity ingrained in the fabric of his DNA, pieces that he has spent a lifetime putting together. It has been the journey of a young man becoming closer to who he is, who his father is and who they are together, culminating in a trip back to the trapline to reclaim their connection to the land.

Black Water is a memoir about intergenerational trauma and healing, about connection and about how Don’s life informed David’s own. Facing up to a story nearly erased by the designs of history, father and son journey together back to the trapline at Black Water and through the past to create a new future.

About the Author

DAVID A. ROBERTSON is the winner of the Beatrice Mosionier Aboriginal Writer of the Year Award, the John Hirsch Award for Most Promising Manitoba Writer and the TWUC Freedom to Read Award. His books include The Barren Grounds: The Misewa Saga; When We Were Alone (winner of the Governor General’s Award, a finalist for the TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award and a McNally Robinson Best Book for Young People); Will I See? (winner of the Manuela Dias Book Design and Illustration Award, graphic novel category); and the YA novel Strangers (recipient of the Michael Van Rooy Award for Genre Fiction). He is the creator and host of the podcast Kiwew. Through his writings about Canada’s Indigenous peoples, Robertson educates as well as entertains, reflecting Indigenous cultures, histories and communities while illuminating many contemporary issues. David A. Robertson is a member of Norway House Cree Nation. He lives in Winnipeg.

Program Policies

Cancellation of Program by the Library

  • Registrants will be notified of a cancelled program as early as possible.
  • All fees paid will be refunded.

Cancellation of Registration by the Registrant

  • Registrants will notify the Library immediately if they are unable to attend. 
  • Cancellations received less than one week before the program date will not receive a refund. 
  • Registrants who miss or forget a program will not receive a refund. 

Photography/Recording

  • The Library is a public space. Attendance at Library Programs and events constitutes consent to be photographed for County of Brant Public Library publicity purposes. 
  • Names of individuals will be used in photograph captions only with express written consent on a Photo Permission Form.


Event Type(s): Book & Author Events, Teen Programs, Adult Programs, Seniors' Programs
Age Group(s): Adults (18+), Seniors (55+), Teens (13-18)
Gary Jermy
(519) 442-2433

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