CBC Books | CBC | Posted: March 10, 2017 5:37 PM | Last Updated: June 27, 2018
Brian Brett
Image | BOOK COVER: Tuco and the Scattershot World by Brian Brett
Both a biography of an irreverent African Grey parrot — given to asking "Whaddya know?" and announcing "Party time!" — and an exploration of the history of birds/dinosaurs, the relationships between humans and birds, our notions of language and intelligence and our tendency to "other" anything that is different from us, Tuco also describes Brett's own painful experience of being othered as an androgyne. Provocative, profound, hilarious and moving, Tuco is most of all the extraordinary story of Brett's decades-long relationship with this singular bird, what Brett calls "a story we made together." (From Greystone Books)
Author interviews
Media Audio | North by Northwest : Author Brian Brett explores empathy and what it means to be different in new book about Tuco, his African grey parrot
Caption: Author Brian Brett explores empathy and what it means to be different in new book about Tuco, his African grey parrot
Media Audio | Sunday Edition : 'Born strange': Brian Brett on gender, his parrot Tuco, and life as an Other
Caption: Tuco is a multi-talented African grey parrot with a diabolical sense of humour who served as a personal guru for writer Brian Brett for 25 years. Brett recently won a BC Book Prize for his memoir, Tuco: The Parrot, the Others and a Scattershot World.