Waubgeshig Rice to write sequel to bestselling novel Moon of the Crusted Snow

Anishinaabe writer and CBC broadcaster Waubgeshig Rice will pen a sequel to his bestselling novel Moon of the Crusted Snow.

Moon of the Crusted Snow depicts an apocalypse in a northern Anishinaabe community. With winter on the way and a sudden power outage, the community begins to unravel while strangers from the south, escaping their own chaos, arrive on the reserve's doorstep seeking refuge.

"It's a dystopia that's already here," Rice told CBC Books in 2018. "I could draw the personal experience of growing up in a community like this. But there's still some knowledge of being able to live on the land and use the resources of the natural world to survive.

"A lot of non-Indigenous people might not be aware of what's happening with Indigenous communities. A lot of Indigenous people are still learning about how things have come to pass, even given their own personal experiences. These are things that we're still teaching ourselves and learning about in order to understand our place in Canada."

Random House Canada commissioned Rice to write a follow-up set 10 years after the events that forced the residents to retreat into the bush and resume their traditional lifestyle.

• How Waubgeshig Rice's post-apocalyptic storyline became a reality

He is currently the host of Up North, CBC Radio's afternoon show for northern Ontario.

Rice announced his departure from the CBC earlier this month. His last day will be May 22, 2020.

He is also the author of the short story collection Midnight Sweatlodge and the novel Legacy.

The new novel is expected to be published in 2022.