The Reason You Walk, Wab Kinew
The Reason You Walk, Wab Kinew
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The Reason You Walk

Author: Wab Kinew

Narrator: Wab Kinew

Unabridged: 8 hr 33 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Penguin Canada

Published: 11/07/2017


Synopsis

A moving father-son reconciliation told by a charismatic First Nations broadcaster, musician and activist.
          When his father was given a diagnosis of terminal cancer, Winnipeg broadcaster and musician Wab Kinew decided to spend a year reconnecting with the accomplished but distant aboriginal man who'd raised him. The Reason You Walk spans the year 2012, chronicling painful moments in the past and celebrating renewed hopes and dreams for the future. As Kinew revisits his own childhood in Winnipeg and on a reserve in Northern Ontario, he learns more about his father's traumatic childhood at residential school. An intriguing doubleness marks The Reason You Walk, a reference to an Anishinaabe ceremonial song. Born to an Anishinaabe father and a non-native mother, he has a foot in both cultures. He is a Sundancer, an academic, a former rapper, a hereditary chief, and an urban activist. His father, Tobasonakwut, was both a beloved traditional chief and a respected elected leader who engaged directly with Ottawa. Internally divided, his father embraced both traditional native religion and Catholicism, the religion that was inculcated into him at the residential school where he was physically and sexually abused. In a grand gesture of reconciliation, Kinew's father invited the Roman Catholic bishop of Winnipeg to a Sundance ceremony in which he adopted him as his brother. Kinew writes affectingly of his own struggles in his twenties to find the right path, eventually giving up a self-destructive lifestyle to passionately pursue music and martial arts. From his unique vantage point, he offers an inside view of what it means to be an educated aboriginal living in a country that is just beginning to wake up to its aboriginal history and living presence.
     Invoking hope, healing and forgiveness, The Reason You Walk is a poignant story of a towering but damaged father and his son as they embark on a journey to repair their family bond. By turns lighthearted and solemn, Kinew gives us an inspiring vision for family and cross-cultural reconciliation, and a wider conversation about the future of aboriginal peoples.

About The Author

WAB KINEW was named by Postmedia News as one of "9 Aboriginal movers and shakers you should know." He is the Associate Vice-President for Indigenous Relations at The University of Winnipeg and a correspondent with Al-jazeera America. After successfully defending Joseph Boyden's The Orenda on CBC's Canada Reads literary competition, he was named the 2015 host. In 2012, he also hosted the acclaimed CBC-TV documentary series 8th Fire. His hip-hop music and journalism projects have won numerous awards. He is a member of the Midewin. Wab is also an Honourary Witness for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. He lives in Winnipeg with his family.Wab Kinew is narrating his audio book.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Anne on October 19, 2015

Every Canadian should read this book. It teaches us not only about Canada's past in the treatment of First Nations, but understands how we can all learn to forgive and love one another. Moreover, it gives an inside look of several First Nations traditions. Everyone can learn a lot from this reading.......more

Goodreads review by Hilary on November 25, 2015

I started this the day before my mother-in-law was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Sometimes the right book finds you at the right moment and you can only be grateful.......more

Goodreads review by Krista on February 12, 2016

I am the reason you walk. I created you so that you might walk this earth. I am the reason you walk. I gave you motivation so you would continue to walk even when the path became difficult, even seemingly impossible. I am the reason you walk. I animated you with that driving force called love, whic......more


Quotes

#1 Globe and Mail Nonfiction Bestseller
Toronto Star Nonfiction Bestseller
Finalist for the RBC Taylor Prize
Shortlisted for the Ontario Library Service North 2017 Louise de Kiriline Award for Nonfiction


“Witness the thrilling rise of not only a First Nations star but a Canadian one. The Reason You Walk points the way toward a new era of reconciliation and redemption - and shows us how a man who's anchored by his language, his culture and his family is unstoppable.”—Joseph Boyden, author of The Orenda

"Brutally honest, original, funny, uncomfortable, and compelling.” —RBC Taylor Prize Jury Citation

“This book combines Kinew’s disarming personality and his willingness to share highly personal material – in this case, the life and death of his father, Tobasonakwut – to demonstrate the immense power of family and forgiveness as tools of reconciliation… This is not just a memoir, it’s a meditation on the purpose of living.” —The Globe and Mail
 
“His story has no filters. It pursues forgiveness, but not by running away from the ugliness that makes forgiveness necessary.” Quill & Quire


Awards

  • Alexander Kennedy Isbister Award for Non-Fiction
  • Carol Shields Winnipeg Book Award
  • Dayton Literary Peace Prize for Nonfiction
  • Kobo Emerging Writer Prize
  • McNally Robinson Book of the Year
  • Ontario Historical Society Joseph Brant Award
  • RBC Taylor Prize