Like so many tragedies in history, there is a tendency for the
public to forget that those who experienced them are real people, feeling the
very real impact of those events. Canadians in particular tend to relegate one
of the greatest humanitarian travesties in modern history to a ‘thing of the
past’, thinking of them only as they would faded pictures in a museum: the
residential school tragedy. With his new novel, Blue Saltwater, Canadian author Dan Green is hoping to open up the
door to discussing the still-open wounds left from the residential school
experience.
While a fictional account, Green compiled real-life cases in an
effort to accurately portray the experiences of the survivors of this dark time
in Canadian history. The gripping account of the young man’s time in a
residential school offers complex characterizations and a high level of
attention to historical detail. Green hopes that by offering a fictionalized
account of this time, readers will be better able to understand just how
harrowing it was for those children to be ripped from their families and
stripped of their culture by abusive authorities.
“Unfortunately a lot of non-Aboriginals seem to glaze over when
they see or hear news stories on the legacy of residential schools. They
wrongly think that it’s a problem that was dealt with, that First Nations
peoples should have ‘moved on’ from it all,” says Green. “What I wanted to do
with Blue Saltwater is to help
readers connect on an emotional level with what these children experienced. We
don’t just tell victims of child abuse to ‘move on’, so why is it considered
acceptable to tell entire cultures to just ‘move on’ when they have
collectively experienced the same thing?”
Blue Saltwater is one of
very few Canadian novels focused on illustrating the forced assimilation of
children under the residential school system. The book can be purchased in all
formats from his website at: http://www.dangreen.ca and is available at most
Chapters outlets in B.C. Dan actively blogs on Aboriginal issues in Canada, and
is available for interview on a variety of topics.
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To book an interview contact:
Rachel Sentes, Publicist
604-366-7846
rachel@gal-fridaypublicity.com
Rachel Sentes, Publicist
604-366-7846
rachel@gal-fridaypublicity.com
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