John Brady McDonald’s acclaimed debut poetry collection The Glass Lodge returns in a new annotated, illustrated 20th Anniversary edition from Shadowpaw Press
The Glass Lodge, the acclaimed debut poetry collection by noted First Nations author John Brady McDonald, returns to bookstores August 13 in a new 20th Anniversary hardcover edition featuring annotations by the author and reproductions of many of the original handwritten poems, published by Regina, Saskatchewan-based Shadowpaw Press.
“The 20th Anniversary of The Glass Lodge brings the path of my career to a meaningful point; from idealistic young poet, persevering through two decades in the proverbial wilderness, and finally finding success in the midst of a global pandemic,” says John Brady McDonald. “It speaks to the resilience, strength and survival of a young Indigenous poet surrounded by the streets, overcoming so much and never giving up on the dream to rise above, but never forgetting where he came from. As a writer, it means a reflection on where I was, and a poignant reminder of where I still want to go.”
“I’m thrilled to be able to bring this important poetry collection back into print for its 20th anniversary in hardcover,” says Edward Willett, publisher of Shadowpaw Press, “and thrilled as well to include the new insights into each poem’s creation provided by John and images of some of the original handwritten poems. John also created the evocative cover art.”
About the book
John Brady McDonald, MBSFA, a Nêhiyawak-Métis multidisciplinary artist and writer from Treaty Six Territory in Saskatchewan, Canada, is an award-winning author of multiple books who has presented at literary festivals around the world. Before all this, however, he was a young, urban Indigenous youth, struggling with addictions, the streets, and the pain and turmoil of intergenerational trauma as a residential school survivor and the child of residential school survivors.
These raw, lyrical poems are a glimpse of the birth of a poet, recklessly using language and words with abandon and without restraint. It is the poetry of an individual experimenting with the language, mixing the influences of Shakespeare and Jim Morrison with the teenage-Goth writing style of youth-the base metals from which a lifetime of words was forged.
Originally published by Kegedonce Press in 2004, The Glass Lodge was presented across Canada and the United States at esteemed festivals. Chosen for the First Nations Communities Read program, it was also nominated for the Anskohk Aboriginal Book of the Year in 2005.
Now, here is that seminal work in a brand-new edition, re-edited and restored, illustrated with images of many of the original, handwritten poems, and with author’s notes providing frank, fascinating insight into what gave rise to each of these verses: the outpouring of language that marked the birth of a remarkable writer.
