Jesse Wente publishing book about Indigenous resistance in fall 2021

Jesse Wente is publishing a new book about Indigenous resistance.

Unreconciled: Family, Truth, and Indigenous Resistance  is a "call to arms to put truth over the flawed concept of reconciliation, and to build a new, respectful relationship between the nation of Canada and Indigenous peoples," according to the book's publisher Allen Lane.

It will weave together Wente's personal story with a larger exploration of society and culture and examine sports, art, popular culture and more.

Unreconciled will be published on Sept. 21, 2021.

Wente announced the book on Instagram, writing that "I hope some will find something for themselves in my words."

Wente is an Ojibwe writer, broadcaster, producer and speaker. He grew up in Toronto and is a member of the Serpent River First Nation.

• Reframing Indigenous stories in joy: Jesse Wente

Wente worked as a columnist for CBC Radio's Metro Morning for 22 years. He also worked at the Toronto International Film Festival. 

Wente currently serves on the board of directors for the Canada Council for the Arts and the Toronto Arts Council.

Jesse Wente on the importance of telling Aboriginal stories

6 years ago

Duration 1:00

Jesse Wente, the director of the Indigenous Screen Office, tells Duncan McCue that Canada, "has a real struggle with seeing Indigenous people as human." He adds that Indigenous people need to tell their own stories through film, because "art is one pathway to create those human connections."

He is also co-producing his first film, a screen adaptation of Thomas King's bestselling book, The Inconvenient Indian. King offered advance praise for the book.

"Unreconciled is one hell of a good book. Jesse Wente's narrative moves effortlessly from the personal to the historical to the contemporary," King said in a statement.