Jesse Thistle
Author of From the Ashes, defended by George Canyon

George Canyon is defending From the Ashes by Jesse Thistle on Canada Reads 2020.
Canada Reads 2020 will take place July 20-23.
About Jesse Thistle
Jesse Thistle is Métis-Cree, from Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. He is an assistant professor in Métis Studies at York University in Toronto. He won a Governor General's Academic Medal in 2016 and is a Pierre Elliot Trudeau Foundation Scholar and a Vanier Scholar.
From the Ashes is his first book.
- Trauma research brings pain, healing to academic Jesse Thistle
- Formerly homeless Métis scholar rewrites the definition of Indigenous homelessness
- From street to scholar: Jesse Thistle creates new definition of Indigenous homelessness
Why Jesse Thistle wrote From the Ashes
"If you look through the book, you'll see flashes of light every time I was traumatized. The way that my mind works, it's like looking through a shard of broken glass, with all the different light fragments. I can only capture them in one- and two-page memories because they either score my soul and I bleed too much or I can't remember because my mind blocks it out.
It was painful, but it was also very beautiful. These were really hard, painful, sharp memories.- Jesse Thistle
"It was painful, but it was also very beautiful. These were really hard, painful, sharp memories. But I also saw there were people that were trying to help me, like the kind shop owner who gave me food or my friend at the shelter who watched out for my shoes. My brother Jerry always took care of me and took me in and I had a lot of support from my wife, Lucie. It's the good and the bad."
Read more in his interview with CBC Books.
Interviews with Jesse Thistle


The Canada Reads 2020 contenders
- Alayna Fender defending Small Game Hunting at the Local Coward Gun Club by Megan Gail Coles
- Akil Augustine defending Radicalized by Cory Doctorow
- Amanda Brugel defending We Have Always Been Here by Samra Habib
- Kaniehtiio Horn defending Son of a Trickster by Eden Robinson
- George Canyon defending From the Ashes by Jesse Thistle