SUDBURY --
A new book featuring 17 stories from within the indigenous community has just been released by a Sudbury publishing company.
Anishinaabe writer and filmmaker Darlene Naponse of the Atikameksheng First Nation put the call out for stories and poems about the community.
Naponse gathered a collection of 17 Indigenous stories from voices across the region and has published a book titled "Before the Usual Time."
"I really wanted to look at what we would call futuristic stories, but within the context of Indigenous, that there is really no...that everything is cyclic in some sense," said Naponse.
The book features a story written by 22-year-old, Emma Petahtegoose from the Atikameksheng First Nation, west of Sudbury.
It's her first published writing and is called "Trying to Remember A Dream."
"It's about the thought process that goes through someone's head when they are waking up and kinda wanting to re-envision what they remember about the previous night. And they want to dream it again because it was so beautiful," said Petahtegoose.
Before the Ususal Time was published by the Sudbury company Latitude 46, the only publishing house in Northern Ontario.
"The hub of publishing in Canada is in Toronto and it's nice to have a publisher here in the North that you can talk to and work with over the years that it takes to put a book together. And to represent Northern Ontario and that is our focus, Northern Ontario authors and Northern Ontario stories," said Heather Campbell, the publisher and production manager of Latitude 46 Publishing.
A virtual book launch event is currently being planned due to physical distancing measures.
Before the Usual Time sells for $20 and can be purchased on-line though Latitude 46 Publishing or other booksellers.
