Join Matthew Tétreault for the hybrid launch of his debut novel, Hold Your Tongue (NeWest Press) featuring a reading, a conversation hosted by Chantal Fiola, and a book signing.
The launch will be hosted live in the Atrium of McNally Robinson Booksellers, Grant Park and also available as a simultaneous YouTube stream featuring live chat. Before arriving, please review details of how to attend physical events here at the store.
Upon learning his great-uncle Alfred has suffered a stroke, Richard sets out for Ste. Anne, in southeastern Manitoba, to find his father and tell him the news. Waylaid by memories of his stalled romance, tales of run-ins with local Mennonites, his job working a honey wagon, and struck by visions of Métis history and secrets of his family’s past, Richard confronts his desires to leave town, even as he learns to embrace his heritage. Evoking an oral storytelling epic that weaves together one family’s complex history, Hold Your Tongue asks what it means to be Métis and francophone.
Matthew Tétreault (he / him) is Métis and French-Canadian from Ste. Anne, Manitoba. He is the author of What Happened on the Bloodvein (Pemmican Publications, 2015), a dark, but humourous collection of interrelated short stories set in southeast Manitoba. Matt holds a PhD in Métis literature and literary history from the University of Alberta, and he received a Governor General’s Gold Medal for academic excellence. His dissertation traces the literary history of the Red River Métis. He recently moonlighted as the “farm boss” on his in-laws’ ranch in St. Ambroise, where he, his wife, daughter, and his old cat, Major Tom, landed upon their return to Manitoba. He lives in Winnipeg.
Chantal Fiola is Michif (Red River Métis) with family from St. Laurent and Ste. Geneviève, MB. She is the award-winning author of two books, including Returning to Ceremony: Spirituality in Manitoba Métis Communities. Currently, with funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the Manitoba Research Alliance, she is Project Director on a research study titled, “Expressions of Métis Spirituality and Religion Across the Métis Homeland.” Dr Fiola is the Distinguished Indigenous Scholar’s Chair (2021-2024) at the University of Winnipeg where she is an Associate Professor in the Urban and Inner-City Studies Department. She is on the Board of Directors for Two-Spirit Manitoba which is preparing to host the first ever Two-Spirit Sundance. Chantal lives in Winnipeg with her wife and their daughter.