Joseph Boyden

Being a mixed-blood person of Ojibway and European ancestry, I always found that I only heard one side of the story -…

— Joseph Boyden

I believe truly that Canada is a living history and we're going through some of the most important time in this country's…

— Joseph Boyden

I'm a writer. I should be allowed to speak about my writing at times. And I'm really excited to speak about that.…

— Joseph Boyden

Sometimes, it's not getting what we want that offers us the most important Lessons

— Joseph Boyden

There’s something sexy in cooking for a man who likes my food. Am I growing up?

— Joseph Boyden

When I die, nieces, I want to be cremated, my ashes taken up in a bush plane and sprinkled onto the people…

— Joseph Boyden

I'm fascinated by the magic realism used by many writers. I think it goes hand-in-hand with the Indian experience. It's a very…

— Joseph Boyden

America seems to celebrate its more violent past, but Canada doesn't like to recognize those things. The willingness to accept the existence…

— Joseph Boyden

“I thought of my mother late that night, after leaving Dorothy, as I followed the moon's path back home across the Moose…

— Joseph Boyden

From a craft standpoint, telling a story in the first-person present tense over the course of 500 pages is a daunting challenge.

— Joseph Boyden

I'm intrigued by the classic Greek tragedies, as well as by the idea of the Greek chorus.

— Joseph Boyden

“Lots of times growing up, I’d just try to do something myself because I believed that being a boy, and being Indian,…

— Joseph Boyden

The beliefs of Native people are no less powerful or important just because they focus on a different "form of magic."

— Joseph Boyden

During World War I the Canadians were the shock troops. In many historical cases, Canadians have been very proficient at killing, and…

— Joseph Boyden

Canada and America are very, very different. It's true that we share a language and many customs. But Americans have a very…

— Joseph Boyden

People will say that Canada, unlike America, was not birthed from violence. But I want to say, "What are you talking about?"…

— Joseph Boyden

The history needs to serve the story, not the story the history. But at the same time you can't stray too far.

— Joseph Boyden

“I passed the friendship centre and nodded to an old couple on the porch. Kookum smiled back and nodded, a cotton kerchief…

— Joseph Boyden

There were incredibly complex societies already existing in North America long before Europeans arrived. So many people think that before European contact…

— Joseph Boyden

We aren't the masters of the earth. We're the servants.

— Joseph Boyden

We all fight on two fronts, the one facing the enemy, the one facing what we do to the enemy.

— Joseph Boyden

“Build it all up, and it all falls down. It all burns down. Everything you need can be taken. Remember that, nieces.…

— Joseph Boyden

Fascinating, often hilarious, always devastatingly truthful, The Inconvenient Indian is destined to become a classic of historical narrative. For those who wish…

— Joseph Boyden

“Mother Nature was one angry slut. She'd try and kill you the first chance she got. You'd screwed with her for so…

— Joseph Boyden

Compared to Americans, Canadians are often more gentle in their approach to things. They're much more apologetic. There's less room for conflict.

— Joseph Boyden