Learn about the lives of Indigenous people with this list of more than a dozen audiobooks by Indigenous writers. From Eden Robinson to Tanya Tagaq and Thomas King, there are many amazing Indigenous authors with great works to discover. Whether they hit home or open one’s eyes to seeing the world in a new way, their stories will move, inspire, educate, and challenge. Discover mythical, magical creatures, beautiful descriptions of the Canadian wilderness, accounts of hockey stars, and books that share hard truths about intergenerational trauma, all in this list of stunning listens and emphatic voices.
The Lesser Blessed is an award-winning coming-of-age story that marks the fiction debut of author Richard Van Camp. Full of clever humour and unique characters, this novel depicts life as a young Indigenous man, a Dogrib, growing up in northern Canada. The main character, Larry, is as raw and honest as they come. Nervy and mouthy, he shows arrogance and a front indicative of a 16-year-old boy, yet he has moments of significant vulnerability and candour. His past is filled with terrors that could crush him, if it weren’t for his friendship with Johnny, a Métis, who also knows what it’s like to be a young Indigenous man.
Listeners will be sure to connect with and root for this complex protagonist as he begins to face his demons and move beyond them. Eye-opening and emotional, this is a story that will cut to the heart.
Richard Wagamese’s Indian Horse is a triumphant story of resilience in the face of significant trauma. It is a raw and candid story about the young Indigenous children who were removed from their families, sent to residential schools and forced to erase their identities and cultural ties.
The story follows Saul as a First Nation child in the residential school system, through his young adult life as a hockey player and into his later years, addressing all the harsh realities of Canadian history and the long-lasting effects of emotional and physical abuse. A powerful and challenging listen, Indian Horse is one Ojibwe man’s story that echoes across a nation of many shared experiences.
Eden Robinson is a much loved and celebrated author who writes powerful Indigenous stories. Her debut novel is a remarkable story centred around a strong-spirited 20-year-old Haisla, Lisamarie Hill. Monkey Beach perfectly depicts the dual life Lisamarie lives by walking both in the spiritual world of the Haisla and through the many dark realities of reservation life, including drugs, alcohol, and violence.
At once dark and hopeful, Robinson weaves a gripping and dramatic tale that uses elements of spirituality and fantasy in stark contrast with harsh realities and raw honesty. The result is a beautiful story of family bonds, a strong spirit, and the powers of nature.
The Break has won several major awards, including various Indigenous book accolades. Author Katherena Vermette tells the many-faceted story of life in Winnipeg's East End through the eyes of a wide range of characters. When Stella, a young Métis mother, sees a figure wandering on the barren plain of the Break, the story dives into several points of view from characters who are—in big or small ways—connected with the victim.
The Break paints many coloured portraits of Winnipeg, Métis life, and how our experiences and backgrounds shape our perspective. Vermette also writes beautifully, pulling these characters together with skill and style for an impressive and intriguing listen.
Moon of the Crusted Snow is a post-apocalyptic story about an Anishinaabe community forced to survive in a world gone dark. Without supplies or food, people turn to traditional ways and return to the land for survival. Waubgeshig Rice creates a beautiful story of familial bonds and tender moments contrasted with scenes of the harsh Northern Ontario winters.
A story of extraordinary survival, Moon of the Crusted Snow is gripping and tense, yet beautiful. Rice leans into Indigenous tropes as he brings the rich past of Indigenous communities into a futuristic world. The result is a stunning, unmissable story.
The works of writer Thomas King can be found on many book lists, and he has gained much acclaim from fans and critics alike. The Back of the Turtle is no exception. It opens with Gabriel, a scientist, returning to the reserve where his mother grew up, which is now deserted and devastated after an environmental disaster. Partly responsible for the damage that killed wildlife and the people he loved, Gabriel intends to plunge himself into the sea. Yet, instead of dying, he winds up saving a mysterious group of people who seem to have fallen from the sky.
With his signature wit, King weaves a story that is dark, authentic and at the same time hopeful, capturing the tumultuous lives and inner sense of so many of his characters. Blending oral traditions with Indigenous myth, The Back of the Turtle is a work of Indigenous literature that is as impactful as it is entertaining.
Son of a Trickster is the first in the Trickster series by Eden Robinson, one of the most well-known Indigenous women writers. Like her debut novel Monkey Beach, this story has one foot in reality and the other in the Haisla spiritual realm.
Jared, a 16 year old burnout who sells weed cookies to most of his high school classmates, has to parent his mother and father. While a typical teenager in many ways, he is a highly compassionate, insightful, and careful young man who sees a lot more than his alcohol-fueled mom gives him credit for. When Jared’s world takes a turn, he starts seeing things that shouldn’t be there and begins questioning everything he thought he knew.
As listeners get absorbed into this powerful and magical tale, they will connect with Jared and be deeply moved by the depth of feeling Robinson infuses in every word.
Haudenosaunee writer Alicia Elliott takes a hard-hitting look at the long-lasting effects of trauma—colonial, intergenerational, and personal—in this groundbreaking and award-winning audiobook.
A Mind Spread Out on the Ground gets its title from the Mohawk phrase for depression. Reflecting on the history and her own life spent between Indigenous and white communities, Elliott delves into the roots of her people’s pain and the ongoing legacy of oppression and bigotry. Elliott tackles tough questions without pulling any punches; she explores the impact of societal and familial trauma on everything from mental illness, substance abuse, and poverty to representation, relationships, and art.
Both political and deeply personal, this listen addresses the Indigenous experience as a whole and the author’s life struggles. Shining a light on the past and present, Elliott reveals our progress and our distinct lack of change in many areas while pointing us toward a more hopeful and balanced future.
In this compelling audiobook, Tanya Talaga focuses on the alarmingly high rates of suicide in young people from Indigenous communities. She addresses how the toll of colonialism stretches across countries and creates a similar lived experience in youth culture—from Canada to Brazil, Norway to Australia, and everywhere in between. It is an experience marked by torn bonds, separating people from their family members, their land, and their very identity and culture. She also outlines how First Peoples have a shared sense of resilience, resistance, and activism despite being cut off from so much.
Talaga brings awareness to the mental health pandemic sweeping these communities without overly victimizing. She reminds listeners of the strength and power in the community, fighting, and using one’s voice. All Our Relations is a must-listen for Indigenous people and everyone with a stake in the future of communities.
Empire of Wild is the latest from Cherie Dimaline, author of the much loved The Marrow Thieves. This story is a mixture of Métis myth and legend with a modern-day take on the classic fairytale Little Red Riding Hood. However, Empire of Wild is by no means a children’s book.
Heroine Joan of Arcand embarks on a twisting journey as she tries to discover why her husband seems not to remember her. What has happened that has made him completely forget her or pretend to forget her? Or is he even her husband at all? Joan can’t shake the feeling that the man she shares her home with is nothing like the Victor she once knew and loved. There is something sinister about Mr. Wolff. Imaginative, dynamic, and gripping, this story will pull listeners in and not let go.
Michelle Good’s Five Little Indians is a powerful story of five children taken from their families and sent to residential schools. They undergo trauma and brutality for years until they are eventually released as teens, unaware of the world and without a home, family, or support system to rely on. The story follows the five as they lean on each other and cross paths within East Vancouver, trying to make their way in a world against them.
Raw, challenging, and honest, Five Little Indians does not shy away from the gritty truths of systemic abuse against Indigenous people, starting with innocent children. Yet, through her fully drawn characters, Good weaves compassion, insight, and optimism into the tale of these five survivors, offering a balance of realism, education, and storytelling for a masterful audiobook.
Centred on a Two-Spirit Indigiqueer young man, Jonny Appleseed is a vivid, passionate, and riveting novel about standing out, fitting in, finding a place in the world, and coming home. Author Joshua Whitehead brings his dynamic, poetic style to this moving tale and its complicated main character. Follow Jonny as he tries to reconcile his bold new self-made life in the big city with his feelings about the "rez" community that rejected him when he abruptly gets a call to come back to the reserve to attend his stepfather’s funeral.
Jonny Appleseed tells one version of a reality lived by many Indigenous Canadians and many queer people: being split between two worlds and struggling to keep the pieces of themselves together.
Split Tooth is an audiobook like no other. A compilation of short stories and poems, it covers a little bit of everything and evokes the entire span of emotions. In the process, author Tanya Tagaq brings together many aspects of Inuit life and paints a beautiful but formidable picture of the North. Stories range from children dealing with drunk parents to tales of the land’s magic and the Northern Lights to community tragedies. Each plays a part in forming the Indigenous identity and has a powerful impact.
Tagaq is also a mesmerizing narrator. A renowned and outspoken throat singer, she excels at using oral traditions to tell her stories and convey her emotions, making this listen all the more powerful, passionate, and moving.
The final entry on our list is The Barren Grounds, an epic fantasy tale by the award-winning children’s author David A. Robertson. This audiobook is the first title from The Misewa Saga series. It won the Rocky Mountain Book Award in 2022 and the TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award in 2021.
The Barren Grounds follows the story of Morgan and Eli; two Indigenous children forced away from their families and communities. Together in Winnipeg, the children struggle to navigate life in foster care, school life, and feeling disconnected from their culture. In this new reality, they work together to survive. This inspiring novel is brought to life vividly through the voice talent of Cree/Irish-Settler actor Brefny Caribou.
