Bestselling author to highlight memoir event
Métis prof who rose from homelessness, addiction will be among storytellers at “6-Minute Memoir”
He once was a high-school dropout, homeless, addicted and on the streets, but now Jesse Thistle is a York University professor and author of the top Canadian bestselling memoir, “From the Ashes: My Story of Being a Métis, Homeless and Finding My way.”
In a coup for the event, Thistle will be one of 12 storytellers sharing personal true-life tales at the upcoming “6-Minute Memoir” event on Zoom this Friday, Feb. 12 at 7:30 p.m.
The event, which began in 2013, is a very popular storytelling tradition held several times a year in Hamilton that challenges speakers to create the world of their stories in a very short amount of time, six minutes, and on the seventh they can rest, to raise money for non-profit organizations.
Thistle is maybe the most famous national presence to appear in the event. But there will be many other exciting storytellers in the lineup, reflecting on this edition’s theme of “Turning Point,” and one of them will be Hamilton’s Bill Russell, the 90-year-old father of animal rights activist Regan Russell, killed by a truck during a protest in Burlington in 2020, whose cause has been taken up internationally and by such prominent figures as actor Joaquin Phoenix.
“There will be stories about a DNA test that uncovers a long hidden secret, standing up to a racist skinhead, a son’s illuminating last visit with his father on his deathbed and how a ghost in the house foreshadowed the unravelling of a marriage,” said event founder and organizer Anne Bokma.
“We may be under lockdown, but sharing our stories is one way we can still connect in a meaningful way, despite our isolation.”
Russell’s talk promises to be a powerful one, as will many of the others. Also in the lineup are filmmaker Cher Obediah; former Chatelaine magazine editor Rona Maynard; performer Tracey Erin Smith; McMaster University student Palaash Pavdighada; anthropologist Treena Orchard and retired teacher Bob Ryan; and writers Allyson McOuat, Virginia Ashberry, Michael Williams and Marg Heidebrecht.
The event is hosted by Bokma, a Hamilton writer whose memoir “My Year of Living Spiritually: One Woman’s Secular Quest for a More Soulful Life,” recently took home two Hamilton Literary Awards.
Tickets are $10 per household and all proceeds will be split equally between Wellwood, which provides support to people living with cancer, and First Unitarian Church of Hamilton, a liberal spiritual community in the city. Tickets can be purchased at uuhamilton.ca/ 6mm-tickets. A link will be sent to the Zoom meeting.
The “6-Minute Memoir,” now in its eighth year, has featured more than 200 storytellers and raised more than $50,000 for various local charities. More information can be found at annebokma.com/6-minutememoir-live-events.