At the core of this novel, Lee Maracle’s last, is the question “Do the dead regret dying after they reach the after world?” Mink wonders this as he regrets dying. He does not want to leave earth with regrets, but he is so young when he dies again, after returning to earth with his ancestors’ permission. This time, however, he has seen Tkaronto, the city where his father lived, and he has seen and experienced first-hand the deep forests and bubbling rivers in the physical world he missed out on in his previous life. Mink Returns to Tkaronto is a novel about a spirit’s return to earth, its experience in the physical world, and its development and growth. Paralleled with this, the novel is also an exploration of how Turtle Island’s geography and ecosystems have been manipulated and changed. No one should regret dying; in this, her last novel, Lee Maracle describes the voyage undertaken by a young mink spirit and in doing so she reminds her readers to live their lives truthfully and to have good memories and stories to take with them to the spirit world. About the Author: Lee Maracle was a member of the Sto:Lo nation and the author of the critically acclaimed novels Celia's Song, Ravensong, and Daughters Are Forever. She was one of only five Canadian authors ever shortlisted for the Neustadt Award, commonly referred to as "the American Nobel." Maracle was one of the founders of the En'owkin International School of Writing and the cultural director of the Centre for Indigenous Theatre. She received the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal for her work promoting writing among Aboriginal Youth and was a Member of the Order of Canada. She had served as Distinguished Visiting Scholar at the University of Toronto, University of Waterloo, and the University of Western Washington. Maracle lived in Vancouver, BC where she passed away in 2021.
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