Embers

"Life sometimes is hard. There are challenges. There are difficulties. There is pain. As a younger man I sought to avoid them and only ever caused myself more of the same. These days I choose to face life head on-and I have become a comet. I arc across the sky of my life and the harder times are the friction that lets the worn and tired bits drop away. It's a good way to travel; eventually I will wear away all resistance until all there is left of me is light. I can live towards that end."
-Richard Wagamese, Embers
In this carefully curated selection of everyday reflections, Richard Wagamese finds lessons in both the mundane and sublime as he muses on the universe, drawing inspiration from working in the bush-sawing and cutting and stacking wood for winter as well as the smudge ceremony to bring him closer to the Creator. Embers is perhaps Richard Wagamese's most personal volume to date. Honest, evocative and articulate, he explores the various manifestations of grief, joy, recovery, beauty, gratitude, physicality and spirituality-concepts many find hard to express. But for Wagamese, spirituality is multifaceted. Within these pages, readers will find hard-won and concrete wisdom on how to feel the joy in the everyday things. Wagamese does not seek to be a teacher or guru, but these observations made along his own journey to become, as he says, "a spiritual bad-ass," make inspiring reading.

"[Embers] is the type of book you set on your bedside table or desk, and open at a random page whenever you feel the need to poke at the emotional and spiritual fire within yourself...the book’s meditations are sad, funny, and touching. But most of all, they have the potential for healing." —Quill & Quire

"This is a meaning-packed collection of brief spiritual reflections from one of the most prolific of Native/First Nations teachers and writers. We recommend you read from it each morning upon waking." —Spirituality & Practice

"[Wagamese's] words serve as metaphorical embers for Ojibway wisdom, stories, songs, relationships, and culture...This is a deeply personal yet accessible collection. Beautifully designed with full-color nature photographs throughout, it will appeal to readers interested in Ojibway culture, and also, more broadly, to those interested in meditation, spirituality, and the creative process." —Publishers Weekly

"Embers is a reflection of Wagamese’s experiences, and of our own. It encourages us to look in the mirror, and that is not a bad thing." —Times Colonist

Richard Wagamese

was one of Canada's foremost writers. His acclaimed, bestselling novels includedIndian Horse-which was a Canada Reads finalist, winner of the inaugural Burt Award for First Nations, Metis and Inuit Literature, and made into a feature film-andMedicine Walk. He was also the author of acclaimed memoirs, includingFor Joshua,One Native Life,andOne Story, One Song, which won the George Ryga Award for Social Awareness in Literature. His collection of personal reflections includeRichard Wagamese Selected: What Comes from Spirit, One Drum: Stories and Ceremonies for a Plant, which received the Bill Duthie Booksellers' Choice Award. He won numerous awards and recognition for his writing, including the National Aboriginal Achievement Award for Media and Communications, the Canada Council for the Arts Molson Prize, the Canada Reads People's Choice Award, and the Writers' Trust of Canada's Matt Cohen Award. Wagamese died on March 10, 2017, in Kamloops, British Columbia.

"Life sometimes is hard. There are challenges. There are difficulties. There is pain. As a younger man I sought to avoid them and only ever caused myself more of the same. These days I choose to face life head on--and I have become a comet. I arc across the sky of my life and the harder times are the friction that lets the worn and tired bits drop away. It's a good way to travel; eventually I will wear away all resistance until all there is left of me is light. I can live towards that end." --Richard Wagamese, Embers In this carefully curated selection of everyday reflections, Richard Wagamese finds lessons in both the mundane and sublime as he muses on the universe, drawing inspiration from working in the bush--sawing and cutting and stacking wood for winter as well as the smudge ceremony to bring him closer to the Creator. Embers is perhaps Richard Wagamese's most personal volume to date. Honest, evocative and articulate, he explores the various manifestations of grief, joy, recovery, beauty, gratitude, physicality and spirituality--concepts many find hard to express. But for Wagamese, spirituality is multifaceted. Within these pages, readers will find hard-won and concrete wisdom on how to feel the joy in the everyday things. Wagamese does not seek to be a teacher or guru, but these observations made along his own journey to become, as he says, "a spiritual bad-ass," make inspiring reading.

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