Anishinaabe and Portuguese-Canadian writer Cody Caetano will read from his memoir Half-Bads in White Regalia and lead a writing workshop
OWEN SOUND, ON, March 12, 2024 — The Owen Sound Memoir Series is excited to announce its third monthly event weekend featuring award-winning Anishinaabe and Portuguese-Canadian writer Cody Caetano.
On Friday, April 19, at 7:00 p.m. Mr. Caetano will read from his memoir, Half-Bads in White Regalia, and discuss how he wrote this creative and emotional book. Attendees can look forward to an evening filled with insight into the experiences of Indigenous Canadians and mixed-race families, and personal anecdotes from his family history. At the end of the evening, Mr. Caetano will participate in a Q&A with the audience, moderated by Lauren Best, a former Owen Sound Poet Laureate.
On Saturday, April 20, at 1:00 p.m., Mr. Caetano will lead a memoir writing workshop for local writers who are working on their own memoirs and anyone who is interested in the memoir-writing process.
Both events will be held at the Harmony Centre, 890 4th Ave E, in Owen Sound. Tickets are available at www.owensoundmemoirseries.com and at the Owen Sound Public Library.
Cody Caetano is an off-reserve member of the Pinaymootang First Nation (Manitoba). He has an MA in creative writing from the University of Toronto where he wrote his memoir under the mentorship of influential First Nations writer and critic Lee Maracle.
Half-Bads in White Regalia is the story of Mr. Caetano’s Indigenous and Portuguese-Canadian family that tries to learn from the mistakes of past generations, told with warmth, humour, and deep generosity.
Half-Bads in White Regalia was an instant national bestseller and won the 2023 Indigenous Voices Award for Best Published Prose. It was named one of the best books of the year by The Globe and Mail and CBC Books. It made the shortlist for the 2023 Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-Fiction, and the longlists for the 2023 Toronto Book Award, the 2023 Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour, and Canada Reads 2023.
The mission of the Owen Sound Memoir Series is to celebrate the experience of diverse Canadians, provide a space for important conversations, and teach memoir writing skills. Each month, a nationally-recognized Canadian author will come to the Owen Sound library to read from their recently published memoir and lead a writing workshop.
Media Contact:
Arlen Wiebe
Series Organizer