Speak of the Past, Speak of the Future
Author Waubgeshig Rice at Litfest 2026
By Justin Allec
The Northwestern Ontario Writers Workshop (NOWW) Litfest has become a welcome annual local tradition that unites Thunder Bay’s book folks—that curious circle of readers, writers, librarians, and booksellers hungry for the written word. With a packed schedule of events over the weekend of May 22 and 23, Litfest has invited Sudbury-based author Waubgeshig Rice to host some of the workshops.
A decorated author and journalist, Rice’s writing experiences range from chasing stories for CBC as a youth to currently appearing on Canadian bestseller lists—he’s seen all sides of the industry and knows how to put the finishing touches on a rough draft. Close to graduating from his final semester at Georgian College and working on the edits to his next novel, Early Bird, out from Random House in spring 2027, Rice is eager to share his insights about writing and how language shapes and keeps communities together.
Much of Rice’s current workload is due to the success of his prior novels, Moon of the Crusted Snow and Moon of the Turning Leaves, a one-two punch of apocalyptic fiction that traces an Indigenous community’s journey through the end of the world to renewal. Growing up in Wasauksing First Nation near Parry Sound, Rice learned two kinds of apocalypse stories at the knees of Elders: “There’s a Great Flood story that describes the origins of Turtle Island with the cycle of upheaval and renewal,” he says. “But for many Indigenous peoples, Canada in 2026 is already post-apocalyptic: the reserve systems, the residential schools, the incarceration rates. […] We’re still living within the repercussions of a failed genocide.”
In Rice’s books, as in his life, language helps shape a community. In Turning Leaves, for example, Rice effortlessly mixes English and Ojibwe, normalizing both languages—which is also happening with his own children as they grow. “In my books, language is a survival code, a way to get to know people,” Rice says. While his current novel is more comedic, the ideas of community which guided the Moon books are still just as prominent.
Opportunities like the NOWW Litfest that treasure both readers and writers are thrilling for Rice; he says they “widen the circle” of storytelling, something that happens both on the page and in person. His advice on writing craft is simple: read lots, complete drafts, and share your work. “I hang onto my drafts until they’re polished, but they don’t get released without being read by friends, and sometimes by specific community members if I’m writing about something sensitive,” Rice says. Once something is written, it’s out in the world, and you want it to be the best it can. Involving others is a significant step to bringing people into your imaginary worlds, something Rice is all-too excited to share throughout his writing experiences.
For more information, visit nowwwriters.ca.
