Award-winning journalist and author Tanya Talaga is this year’s speaker for the MacClement Lecture, hosted by the Faculty of Education.

Talaga will speak on Indigenous education, health, and the responsibility for all of us to take an active role in reconciliation.  The event will take place Thursday, Sept. 26 at 5 pm at Duncan MacArthur Hall

The First Ojibway woman to deliver the CBC Massey Lectures, Talaga is an acclaimed storyteller. Her book Seven Fallen Feathers, a national bestseller that introduced seven Indigenous high school students who mysteriously died in Thunder Bay, won the 2018 RBC Taylor Prize.

In her powerful keynotes, Talaga shares Indigenous stories from across Canada and the world, humanizing the legacy of cultural genocide and sharing her hope for a more inclusive and equitable future. 

“I am so looking forward to hearing Tanya Talaga speak. Her book, Seven Fallen Feathers, should be read by every adult (full stop),” says Elder-in-Residence for the Faculty of Education Deb St. Amant. “I am thankful that she listened to the Elders who wanted her to write about this important topic. She has an incredible gift for telling the truths of Indigenous experience.”

The lecture is free to attend and open to the public. More information is available on the Faculty of Education website.

The MacClement Lectureship was established in 1985 by friends and family in memory of William T. MacClement, a former professor of biology at Queen’s who helped establish a successful summer school at the university.

For the past 20 years, Talaga has worked as a journalist, and now columnist, for The Toronto Star. She has authored two books – All Our Relations: Finding The Path Forward and Seven Fallen Feathers. In addition to the RBC Taylor Prize, Seven Fallen Feathers also won the Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing, and the First Nation Communities Read: Young Adult/Adult Award. It was also a finalist for the Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Nonfiction Prize and the BC National Award for Nonfiction, and was named CBC’s Nonfiction Book of the Year and a Globe and Mail Top 100 Book.

(This article has been updated to correct the date to Thursday, Sept. 26)