Niigonwedom Sinclair defends Gabrielle Roy's "Where Nests the Water Hen" for Manitoba Reads

Niigonwedom James Sinclair (CBC)

Niigonwedom James Sinclair is a Writer/Professor at the University of Manitoba.

His Manitoba Reads choice is Where Nests the Water Hen by Gabrielle Roy, a novel about pioneers in Northern Manitoba.

Hear more about why Niigonwedom chose this book.  

Niigonwedom James Sinclair is Anishinaabe, originally from St. Peter's (Little Peguis) Indian Reserve. As well as his own creative work, he is an important anthologist, extending public awareness of Aboriginal writing and analysis. A former high-school drama and language arts teacher, Niigon currently lives in Winnipeg, where he is completing his PhD in Anishinaabeg literatures and traditional expression, and beginning his career as a professor in the English and Native Studies departments at the U of M.

Here Niigonwedom read a passage from the book.

Gabrielle Roy: Where Nests the Water Hen (1950,  rprt. New Canadian Library, 2010)
The story of Where Nests the Water Hen is as pure as the lives of the people in it--and as unforgettable. Set in the remote wilderness of northern Manitoba, this sunny, tender idyll of daily frontier life captures, as few novels ever have, the spirit and the surroundings of the pioneers--not the adventurers and trailblazers who make the headlines, but rather the humble folk who follow after and remain, living out their lives in obscurity to keep the trails open. First published in 1950, Where Nests the Water Hen, Gabrielle Roy's second novel, is a sensitive and sympathetic tale that captures both the innocence and the vitality of a sparsely populated frontier.