Louise Bernice Halfe, the first indigenous writer to be named Poet Laureate of Canada, will have a reading and discussion at the Newton Free Library at 3pm on Friday October 13. Ms. Halfe, of the Cree Nation of Saskatchewan, is a survivor of the infamous “Residential Schools” where indigenous children were kept for years (in her case seven years) after the government took thousands of them away from their families and the native culture they were growing up in. Managed by Catholic nuns and priests, physical and sexual abuse was rampant, as was cultural abuse whose effects have haunted tribal families through several generations. Also knows as “Sky Dancer,” Ms. Halfe’s poetry is both tender and enraged. Invited by The Poets’ Theatre in collaboration with the Canadian Consulate in Boston, “Sky Dancer” will spend the week following Indigenous Peoples Day reading aloud and celebration her tribal heritage at various sites in the Boston area.
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