A powerful, often funny, always inspiring memoir from a beloved comedian, professional orator, actor, entertainer, gone all too soon.

Candy Palmater loved to connect with people. She lived for the stage, her effervescent presence on television and radio ignited and inspired audiences, touching them with her warm, often spicy humour as well as her positive message about love and kindness. And she always believed that it is never too late to pursue our dreams and that we should never allow others to negatively influence our life's desires.

Candy described herself as a queer Mi'kmaw lawyer-turned-comic raised by bikers in rural New Brunswick and on the surface, she met with enormous success – on leaving government and the practice of law, she started a career as a stand-up comedian, which led to starring in five successful seasons of her own national TV show, hosting many radio shows and co-guest hosting CTV's The Social, and landing a recurring role on a hot new sitcom in her fifties. But she is the first to tell you she made all kinds of mistakes and experienced all kinds of failure along the way.

Running Down a Dream is Candy's story, in her own words, of the highs, the lows, the moments of doubt, the turning points when she listened to her gut and tuned out all the people saying no. It's also a tribute to her family and the love that always bolstered her, despite their own hard times. She shares her stories to inspire us to embrace our failures and to believe in ourselves. And most importantly, Running Down a Dream is a call to love ourselves for who we are.

The world lost Candy in late 2021, and yet she left us with this gift — a memoir and a message that will inspire us for years to come. (From HarperCollins Publishers)

Candy Palmater was a band member of Ugpi'ganjig, a Mi'kmaw First Nation in northern New Brunswick formerly called Eel River Bar. She attended the Schulich School of Law at Dalhousie University, where she is said to have been the first Indigenous law student in Canada to be valedictorian of her graduating class. After a brief stint as a practicing lawyer, Palmater left for a job with the Nova Scotia government, which left her evenings free to pursue her comic ambitions.

Palmater created and hosted the award-winning The Candy Show on APTN, was a regular co-host on CTV's afternoon talk show The Social and acted in various shows, including Trailer Park Boys. She also hosted The Candy Palmater Show on CBC Radio One and championed The Break by Katherena Vermette on Canada Reads 2017.