From dystopian futures to secret pasts, check out these Indigenous storytellers over the holidays

As the holiday season rapidly approaches, our wish for you is some time off with loved ones and a stack of books to read! If you need a little inspiration, or are looking for some last minute literary gifts, you're in luck. This week, Unreserved is celebrating Indigenous storytellers of all types. 

So far, Cherie Dimaline has won the Kirkus Prize and a Governor General's Award for her novel, The Marrow Thieves. Aimed at a  YA audience, it features a dystopian future where non-Indigenous people have lost their ability to dream. The solution? Eating the bone marrow of Indigenous peoples.

When she agreed to work on David Robertson's now Governor General award-winning book, When We Were Alone, illustrator Julie Flett faced a challenge. How do you make pictures for a book about life in residential school kid-friendly? 

Joshua Whitehead shares a poem from his latest book, full-metal indigiqueer. The Oji-Cree storyteller from the Peguis First Nation stops in to talk about the decolonization — and resurgence — of the Indigenous queer identity. 

Best known for his music, with groups like Blackie & the Rodeo Kings and Junkhouse, Tom Wilson shares the family secret that revealed his true identity and inspired his new book, Beautiful Scars.