Anton Treuer shares about his debut novel for young readers, Where Wolves Don’t Die, at the Harbor Springs Book Festival.
Praise for Where Wolves Don’t Die:
“Where Wolves Don't Die will lift you up and not let you down… I couldn't put this book down until I'd finished it, and then, I could not forget it.” — Louise Erdrich, Pulitzer Prize Winner and Owner of Birchbark Books
“I am in awe, crying and smiling at the same time. Where Wolves Don’t Die is a love letter to our Ancestors. This beautiful story is full of cultural teachings and characters so familiar that I'm pretty sure we're related.” —Angeline Boulley, #1 NYT Best-selling Author of The Firekeeper’s Daughter
“It is quite likely that I will never stop reading Where Wolves Don’t Die… It is one of the best pieces of writing I have ever read.” —The Hon. Senator Murray Sinclair, Chair of Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission
“An essential illumination of contemporary Indigenous life.” —Angela Carstensen, Booklist (Starred Review)
“Where Wolves Don’t Die gives voice to all of us who survived residential boarding school, visibility to all of us who love and live our language and culture, and hope to all good humans who quest for healing, connection, and love. Everyone should read this.” —Dennis Jones, Nigigoonsiminikaaning First Nation Elder and Retired Instructor of Ojibwe, University of Minnesota
“A nuanced adventure centering family and growth.” —Kirkus Reviews
“I have never read a book that so authentically portrayed the yearning we all feel for our culture, ancestors, families, and communities. Where Wolves Don’t Die had me laughing out loud, staying up late to absorb one chapter after another, and crying buckets of unrestrained joy. It left me proud to be Indian and so happy to be alive.” —Chrissy Downwind, Vice President of American Indian Student Success & Campus Diversity Officer, American Indian Resource Center, Bemidji State University
“Immersive detail about trapping methods as well as Indigenous tales about the natural world, making for an intriguing… adventure.” —Publisher’s Weekly
“Where Wolves Don’t Die will immerse you in the northern wilderness more completely than Hatchet, rivet you to a storyline faster than a Harry Potter book, and transport you into Indigenous culture more authentically and compellingly than anything in print. This is the best book I have ever read.” —Charles Grolla, author of Binesi-dibaajimowinan: Ojibwe Bird Stories and Makazinataagewin: Ojibwe Style Moccasin Game
“Where Wolves Don’t Die is unflinching and edgy, but wholesome and warm; it’s gripping and fast-moving, but deep and tender too; and its revelatory immersion in Indigeneity is both ancient and completely novel. This book is a masterpiece.” —Melissa Baabiitaw Boyd, Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe
About the book:
Ezra Cloud hates living in Northeast Minneapolis. His father is a professor of their language, Ojibwe, at a local college, so they have to be there. But Ezra hates the dirty, polluted snow around them. He hates being away from the rez at Nigigoonsiminikaaning First Nation. And he hates the local bully in his neighborhood, Matt Schroeder, who terrorizes Ezra and his friend Nora George.
Ezra gets into a terrible fight with Matt at school defending Nora, and that same night, Matt’s house burns down. Instantly, Ezra becomes a prime suspect. Knowing he won’t get a fair deal, and knowing his innocence, Ezra’s family sends him away to run traplines with his grandfather in a remote part of Canada, while the investigation is ongoing. But the Schroeders are looking for him…
From acclaimed author Anton Treuer comes a novel that’s both a taut thriller and a raw, tender coming-of-age story, about one Ojibwe boy learning to love himself through the love of his family around him.