Drew Hayden Taylor writes Indigenous sci-fi he craved as a kid
Growing up, Drew Hayden Taylor immersed himself in science fiction books yet he often felt left out.
Unable to see his own Ojibway experiences reflected in these works of literature, Taylor has since written a number of books through the perspective and lens of Indigenous people. And now, he finally tackles the genre he's always loved but was too afraid to take on in his new book, Take Us to Your Chief.
"I'm all about twisting or melding genres," Taylor tells Candy Palmater. "I was just taking certain touchstones that we were all familiar with and then using them to take them out of the reserve environment into the larger sci-fi environment, and giving it that sort of resonance."
While he hates it when authors and songwriters say they wrote something for themselves, Taylor admits that's exactly what he did this time around. Hopefully this broadens the array of Indigenous narratives the next generation will take in.
"There's so many shades of Aboriginal consciousness. There's more to our journey than those dark, bleak depressing stories."