Gregory Scofield

This was a tough book to listen to because Gregory Scofield had a horrible childhood. The fact that he survived it and learned the craft of writing poetry and drama and non-fiction is a testament to his inner fortitude. The narrator, Billy Merasty, did a fantastic job of the different voices, accents and languages.

This book was initially published in 1999 but was re-issued in 2020 with a foreword by Scofield about his intervening years. Scofield was raised in Maple Ridge BC but his origins are Red River Metis. His mother never acknowledged her indigenous background so Gregory did not learn about his Metis origins for many years. His father was never in the picture and at times there was just Gregory and his mother. However his mother got married to an abusive man who beat both her and Gregory. To escape he sometimes went to a neighbour lady who was aboriginal. He called her Aunty as she kind to him, taught him to speak Cree and to do beadwork. As a teenager he realized he was gay; for some time he tried to divorce his sexuality from his ethnicity but eventually brought the two together as his true personality. Scofield's mother was an alcoholic and pill addict and Scofield struggled with substance abuse himself. Always searching for his origins he eventually ended up at the Back to Batoche days in Saskatchewan where he learned about the Metis culture and history. About this same time he started writing radio dramas and returned to BC. His mother died soon after and in 1998 his Aunty was murdered. Scofield writes movingly about visiting their gravesites and old building in Maple Ridge where he finally came to terms with his traumatic upbringing.

The Wikipedia article about Scofield itemizes some of his accomplishments which include winning the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize in 1994 and the Latner Writer's Trust Poetry Prize in 2016. Not bad for a high school dropout.… (más)

The first section was a little slow for me as I kept having to read the English translations for words (which are included next to the text, thankfully), but over all I found this collection to be very thought provoking and interesting. I'm definitely going to read some more of his work.

A side note: this collection, thought not purposely connected, relates well to [b:The Break|29220494|The Break|Katherena Vermette|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1472734124s/29220494.jpg|49455862] by [a:Katherena Vermette|6197865|Katherena Vermette|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1458608881p2/6197865.jpg] as they both address the issues of being Metis (not white, not Native) and of missing and murdered indigenous women (though, in The Break, it's more about how systemic racism often means that Natives are ignored). I would also consider pairing it with [a:Katherena Vermette|6197865|Katherena Vermette|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1458608881p2/6197865.jpg]'s poetry book [b:North End Love Songs|14987933|North End Love Songs|Katherena Vermette|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1384185895s/14987933.jpg|20642461].… (más)