Ashoona: A historical novel about a teenage girl from Pangnirtung in the 1930s

I stumbled across this book at the Yellowknife Public Library, purely by accident, and am still surprised I’d never heard of it. Or am I?

North of Nowhere: Song of a Truth and Reconciliation Commissioner

Read this for a terrific recap of a hugely important moment in Canadian history.

Umingmak: A fine new memoir of N.W.T. Commissioner Stuart Hodgson

I enjoyed this detailed, first-person account of peak colonialism in the N.W.T.

Northerners: 24 short, but vivid, biographies from 1989

These 24 capsule biographies from 30 years ago still do the trick.

The Berger Inquiry, 1970s journalism, and a book that captures it all

This reporter's account rips through the insanity of the Berger inquiry to get to the point: the gripping testimony by northerners, much of which is captured verbatim here. Hard to find, but great reading.

From Lishamie, Albert Canadien’s memoir of a village that no longer exists

I didn’t know that Treaty Day in Fort Providence, N.W.T., was also TB testing day, and I wouldn’t have known it if not for this highly detailed memoir.

An Arctic Arab, or, the story of Peter Baker, free trader

“I, Peter Baker, known as the Arctic Arab, came from Lebanon during the Turkish conquest,” begins this 1976 memoir.

Old Town, by Fran Hurcomb

A concise, charming book that definitively documents ‘Yellowknife’s defining neighbourhood.’

Fire into Ice: The insanely adventurous life of Chuck Fipke, diamond hunter

Armchair adventure at its finest.

The Right to Be Cold: Sheila Watt-Cloutier’s urgent memoir

Earnest memoir recounts minute details of a fascinating life, bureaucratic tussles included.