"We've been through our own apocalypse" - David Robertson on Indigenous speculative fiction (WSS04)

RiVAL Radio

In his 2020 memoir Black Water, award-winning author David A. Robertson reflects on how his Cree heritage and his family's survival of colonialism has shaped his imagination. In this conversation, he speaks of the joys and challenges of writing speculative fiction for adults and children, informed by Indigenous worldviews and struggles. Approaching fiction as a work of community-building, he speaks to the need for courage to push back against dominant narratives. Robertson is author of numerous bestselling books for readers of many ages in a wide diversity of imaginative genres. In 2021 he received the Writers’ Union of Canada Freedom to Read Award and was named Globe and Mail Children's Storyteller of the Year. He has won Canada's prestigious Governor General's Literary Award several times. * https://www.darobertson.ca/ * https://www.cbc.ca/listen/cbc-podcasts/425-kiwew The Workers' Speculative Society is a research podcast about the world Amazon is building and the workers, writers and communities that are demanding a different future. It is part of the Worker as Futurist Project, which supports rank-and-file Amazon workers to write speculative fiction about "The World After Amazon. It is hosted by Xenia Benivolski, Max Haiven, Sarah Olutola, and Graeme Webb and is an initiative of RiVAL: The ReImagining Value Action Lab, with support from the Social Sciences a Humanities Research Council of Canada. Editing and theme music by Robert Steenkamer. * soundcloud.com/reimaginevalue/sets/the-workers-speculative * workersspeculativesociety.org * reimaginingvalue.ca