Following the River: Traces of Red River Women

November 21, 2017 
335 PAGES | ISBN 978-1-928088-47-9 

*Shortlisted for the 2019 Atlantic Book Awards' Evelyn Richardson Non-Fiction Award*
*Winner of the Miramichi Reader's "The Very Best!" Book Award for Non-fiction*

Lorri Neilsen Glenn first discovered her great-grandmother’s tragic death in a passing comment from an aunt. Startled, she began to search out the history of her family, to understand the life of this woman she knew nothing about. Along the way Neilsen Glenn works to unravel the issues of racism, sexism and colonial nation building that haunt us still. In elegant prose and poetry she has created a story of pieces, bringing to life what she could find in newspaper reports and museums. Through these fragments and portraits she gives the reader a glimpse of the lives lived by her ancestors and by women like them. Following the River is a lyric reflection on women that have been erased from our history and what that means for today.

Reviews | Interviews | Articles | About the Author

Reviews

Following the River: Traces of Red River Women (Danielle Chartier, Canada's History, 11/09/2018)
"[This] book offers an amazing glimpse into the research process as well as into the lives of Indigenous women in the Red River region."

Following the River: Traces of Red River Women by Lorri Neilsen Glenn (Miramichi Reader, 07/07/2018)
"I was captivated and gently drawn into Ms. Neilsen Glenn's account of her amazing journey right from the beginning. She has laid it out in such a way that the reader cannot help riding along with her to the places she drove, the historic sites and graveyards she visited and walk along the streets of her childhood with her, even join in on lunch and conversation with her amazing 102-year old Aunt Kay."

Interviews

Lorri Neilsen Glenn on "Following the River" (Shelagh Rogers, The Next Chapter, 09/04/2018)
Lorri Neilsen Glenn on her account of uncovering her Indigenous roots, and piecing together the fragments of stories of her great-grandmother and her contemporaries.

Lorri Neilsen Glenn on Following a Family Trail to Uncover the Historical Erasure of Indigenous Women (Open Book, 13/12/2017)
"The mystery of my great-grandmother’s life and death started my research, but soon the captivating stories of other 19th century Red River women drew me in. My question changed and grew: Why don’t we know more about First Nations women? Their work both pre- and post-European contact has been immense, yet they’re either ignored or dismissed."

In Conversation with Lorri Neilsen Glenn (Ariel Gordon, Winnipeg Free Press, 10/11/2017)
"My grandmothers and their contemporaries were tenacious and resilient, yet they were often dismissed, derided and their contributions ignored. Their stories are disappearing and this book gathers some of them."

Articles

Invisible Women (All Lit Up, 08/03/2018)
"As I combed through documents for stories about Indigenous women, I began to see some of the many ways they were – and continue to be – erased."

On women in publishing and an intersectional feminist booklist (BookNet Canada, 24/01/2018)
Lorri's book makes the list of LPG staff–recommended books for the intersectional feminist.

Lorri Neilsen Glenn on Following a Family Trail to Uncover the Historical Erasure of Indigenous Women (Open Book, 13/12/2017)
"The mystery of my great-grandmother’s life and death started my research, but soon the captivating stories of other 19th century Red River women drew me in. My question changed and grew: Why don’t we know more about First Nations women? Their work both pre- and post-European contact has been immense, yet they’re either ignored or dismissed."

In Conversation with Lorri Neilsen Glenn (Ariel Gordon, Winnipeg Free Press, 10/11/2017)
"My grandmothers and their contemporaries were tenacious and resilient, yet they were often dismissed, derided and their contributions ignored. Their stories are disappearing and this book gathers some of them."

About the Author

Lorri Neilsen Glenn is a poet, essayist, teacher and researcher. Her most recent books include the bestselling Untying the Apron: Daughters Remember Mothers of the 1950s, an anthology of prose and poetry, and an acclaimed book of lyric essays in bricolage form, Threading Light: Explorations in Loss and Poetry. The former poet laureate of Halifax, she has won awards for her writing, her innovative teaching, her research and her work in the arts. She is a professor at Mount Saint Vincent University and a mentor in the University of King’s College MFA program in creative non-fiction. She lives with her family in Nova Scotia.