Bestselling author Alicia Elliott is giving a public talk called “Why we should all be activists: What Haudenosaunee philosophy can teach us about our responsibility to the Earth.”

The event, hosted by Brock University’s Centre for Women’s and Gender Studies as well as the Centre for Human Rights and Equity, takes place Tuesday, Oct. 29 at 6 p.m. at the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre. The presentation is free for students and available on a pay-what-you-can basis for community members.

Elliott is a Tuscarora writer living in Brantford whose award-winning essays have been published widely and whose first book, A Mind Spread Out On The Ground, is a national bestseller. In 2018, she was the recipient of the RBC Taylor Emerging Writer Award.

The talk will be moderated by Robyn Bourgeois, Assistant Professor in the Centre for Women’s and Gender Studies. Bourgeois says she was eager to host Elliott after reading her book, which was first published in the spring.

“Alicia Elliott is a powerful Indigenous writer giving voice to issues related to gender, sexuality, colonialism and racism in a highly accessible way,” said Bourgeois.

Bourgeois and Associate Professor Margot Francis, also in the Centre for Women’s and Gender Studies, have both assigned A Mind Spread Out On The Ground in their courses, including Indigenous Feminisms and Indigenous Cultural Production and Activism.

Not only is the event an opportunity for students to hear directly from the author, but it is also exciting that, as Bourgeois points out, “an Indigenous female voice will be centred in our ongoing conversations at Brock around decolonization.”

Additional co-sponsors include the Women’s Campus Safety Grant, the President’s Advisory Committee on Human Rights, Equity, and Decolonization, the Sexual Violence Prevention Committee, Aboriginal Student Services, Tecumseh Centre for Indigenous Research and Education, the Social Justice Research Institute, and the Department of English Language and Literature.