WE SURVIVED THE NIGHT

Julian Brave NoiseCat

One dark night, a new-born is discovered dumped inside a waste incinerator. The boy, rescued from death, grows into a man who will in turn abandon his own children, including his first-born son Julian Brave NoiseCat.

Behind this father-son story lies an even darker history of abuse, colonialism and vicious attempts to erase North America's First Peoples from their land. Told in the style of a 'Coyote Story', a legend of the trickster forefather of NoiseCat's people, We Survived the Night brings a vanishing artform back to life in this dazzling account of contemporary Indigenous North America. Braiding on-the-ground reportage together with intimate experience, history with mythology, NoiseCat grapples with trauma that cascades across generations to uncover truths about himself, his family and his people - how they survived and how, through vital political, environmental and cultural movements, they are coming back.

An inventive, illuminating and moving narrative from one of the most compelling artists at work today, We Survived the Night is both reconciliation and celebration of Indigenous pain, hope and resurgence – and their power to shape a collective future.

Here is an unforgettable journey of restoration through father-son ties and historic reckoning of Indigenous people, announcing a major new literary talent.

Profile Books (publisher’s description)