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.

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.’

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

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

I, Nuligak: A memoir of Inuvialuit life in the last heyday of the whalers

‘Because I was an orphan and a poor one at that, my mind was always alert to the happenings around me. Once my eyes had seen something, it was never forgotten.’

My Name is Masak, a childhood memoir by Alice French

This book is so spare, it’s nearly impossible to get through without wanting to read between the lines.

George Blondin’s quest to write the Dene universe

Even though I like talking to people, I never really learn anything until I read about it. If you’re anything like me and you live in the NWT, you need to know about George Blondin.

Trapping is my Life by John Tetso

Trapping was indeed the life for John Tetso, who writes vividly about his life on the land in this slim 1970 book. “The wind flowing on the face and the smell of campfire smoke are two temptations I can’t resist … and the good solid feeling that you are your own boss.”

Thrasher… Skid Row Eskimo: Tony Thrasher’s 1976 jailhouse memoir

I had no idea there were so many books written by Inuit. This one is a really good read.