Permanent Astonishment: Tomson Highway in Conversation

One of the most acclaimed Indigenous writers and performers in Canada shares his epic life story in a new memoir and conversation. Tomson Highway was born in a snowbank on an island in the sub-Arctic, the 11th of 12 children in a nomadic Cree family. Permanent Astonishment shares his joy of the natural world and his family—from being pulled by dogsled beneath a night sky alive with stars to singing country music songs around the campfire. He also shares what happened after and away from that idyllic childhood; flown to residential school when he was six years old, where his younger brother, René, soon joined him. Permanent Astonishment is also an embrace to René’s final words when he died too young. “Don’t mourn me, be joyful,” he said. Highway demonstrates just that through a hilarious and profound work that explores culture, conquest, and survival. Hear him tell his tale in conversation with Bill Richardson.

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