Identity, Belonging & the Stories That Shape Us

Identity, Belonging & the Stories That Shape Us
with Tara Gereaux and Rosanna Deerchild
Host, Karyn Pugliese

 

Wednesday, October 14, 2026, 7-9pm
Centre Wakefield La Pêche

Identity, belonging and the stories we carry shape how we understand ourselves and one another. Join us for a moving exploration of family, love, resilience and the voices that help us find our way.
 
Award-winning Métis writer Tara Gereaux and acclaimed Canadian Cree poet, author and broadcaster Rosanna Deerchild come together to explore the intimate, complicated terrain of relationships, memory and identity through their latest works, Wild People Quiet, longlisted for the 2026 Giller Prize, and She Falls Again, winner of the 2025 Indigenous Voices Award
 
Guided by award-winning journalist, editor and educator Karyn Pugliese, a citizen of the Algonquins of Pikwàkanagàn First Nation, they will explore:
 
~ How family, identity and belonging shape the stories we inherit—and the stories we choose to tell about ourselves.
 
~ The complexities of love, desire and vulnerability, and the ways our closest relationships can challenge us and help us understand who we are.
 
~ How memory, history and silence continue to shape our lives—and how storytelling can create space for resilience, self-discovery and new possibilities.
 
A rich and deeply human conversation about identity, belonging, love and resilience—and the courage it takes to listen for, and ultimately claim, our own voices.
 

Wednesday, October 14, 7:00
Centre Wakefield La Pêche
38 Chemin de la Vallée-de-Wakefield, Wakefield QC J0X 3G0

Tickets: $30

Photo by Chris Graham

Tara Gereaux

Tara Gereaux is the author of Saltus, which was shortlisted for the 2022 ReLit Novel Award and three Saskatchewan Book Awards; and Size of a Fist, a teen novella, which was also shortlisted for two Saskatchewan Book Awards. Tara holds an MFA in creative writing from UBC and has worked as a writer and story editor for film and television. She is a citizen of the Métis Nation-Saskatchewan and lives in Regina on Treaty 4 territory and the homeland of the Métis.

Photo by Deerchild

Rosanna Deerchild

Rosanna Deerchild (She/Her) is Cree, from the community of O-Pipon-Na-Piwan Cree Nation. She has been a storyteller for more than twenty years; as a journalist, broadcaster, poet, and playwright. She is the host of CBC Radio One’s Unreserved . Her debut poetry collection this is a small northern town shared her reflections of growing up in a racially divided place. It won the 2009 Aqua Books Lansdowne Prize for Poetry. Her second book, calling down the sky, is a collaboration with her mother who was forced to attend Indian Residential School. Her first play with the Royal MTC’s Pimootayowin Creators Circle was called The Secret to Good Tea and was produced for their mainstage in their 2022/23 season. It will be produced for the 2025/26 season with the National Arts Centre and the Grand Theatre in London, Ontario.

Karyn Pugliese

An award-winning journalist, writer and host with more than 20 years of experience, she has spent her career telling stories and leading conversations about Indigenous peoples, politics and life in Canada. She has worked in senior editorial roles at APTN, CBC and Canada’s National Observer, while remaining most at home interviewing people, asking questions and finding the stories that connect us.

Today, she covers Parliament, writes, podcasts and hosts conversations about the people and ideas shaping the country. She also speaks regularly across North America, including at IRE, NAJA, the United Nations, CJF J-Talks and journalism schools.

She is a proud citizen of the Pikwàkanagàn First Nation, of mixed Algonquin and Italian descent. When she’s not engaged in acts of journalism, she can usually be found in a canoe, behind a camera, with a book—or eating frybread.

Thanking the Women Entrepreneurs of the Gatineau Hills

Our heartfelt thanks go out to the extraordinary women entrepreneurs of the Gatineau Hills for their generous support of Women Talking – Identity, Belonging & the Stories That Shape Us. Their support makes this event possible, and it reflects the heart of our region: women lifting one another up, building community, and shaping a future rooted in connection and understanding.

Salon du Livre de l'Outaouais of Perfect Books Ottawa offers an excellent selection of books by 2026 Writers Fête authors. Meet the authors and have your books signed!

$30.00 Purchase Now

Tickets

The numbers below include tickets for this event already in your cart. Clicking "Get Tickets" will allow you to edit any existing attendee information as well as change ticket quantities.
General Admission
Identity, Belonging & the Stories That Shape Us
$30.00

Tickets

The numbers below include tickets for this event already in your cart. Clicking "Get Tickets" will allow you to edit any existing attendee information as well as change ticket quantities.
General Admission
Identity, Belonging & the Stories That Shape Us
$30.00

Identity, Belonging & the Stories That Shape Us

Identity, Belonging & the Stories That Shape Us
with Tara Gereaux and Rosanna Deerchild
Host, Karyn Pugliese

 

Wednesday, October 14, 2026, 7-9pm
Centre Wakefield La Pêche

Identity, belonging and the stories we carry shape how we understand ourselves and one another. Join us for a moving exploration of family, love, resilience and the voices that help us find our way.
 
Award-winning Métis writer Tara Gereaux and acclaimed Canadian Cree poet, author and broadcaster Rosanna Deerchild come together to explore the intimate, complicated terrain of relationships, memory and identity through their latest works, Wild People Quiet, longlisted for the 2026 Giller Prize, and She Falls Again, winner of the 2025 Indigenous Voices Award
 
Guided by award-winning journalist, editor and educator Karyn Pugliese, a citizen of the Algonquins of Pikwàkanagàn First Nation, they will explore:
 
~ How family, identity and belonging shape the stories we inherit—and the stories we choose to tell about ourselves.
 
~ The complexities of love, desire and vulnerability, and the ways our closest relationships can challenge us and help us understand who we are.
 
~ How memory, history and silence continue to shape our lives—and how storytelling can create space for resilience, self-discovery and new possibilities.
 
A rich and deeply human conversation about identity, belonging, love and resilience—and the courage it takes to listen for, and ultimately claim, our own voices.
 

Wednesday, October 14, 7:00
Centre Wakefield La Pêche
38 Chemin de la Vallée-de-Wakefield, Wakefield QC J0X 3G0

Tickets: $30

Photo by Chris Graham

Tara Gereaux

Tara Gereaux is the author of Saltus, which was shortlisted for the 2022 ReLit Novel Award and three Saskatchewan Book Awards; and Size of a Fist, a teen novella, which was also shortlisted for two Saskatchewan Book Awards. Tara holds an MFA in creative writing from UBC and has worked as a writer and story editor for film and television. She is a citizen of the Métis Nation-Saskatchewan and lives in Regina on Treaty 4 territory and the homeland of the Métis.

Photo by Deerchild

Rosanna Deerchild

Rosanna Deerchild (She/Her) is Cree, from the community of O-Pipon-Na-Piwan Cree Nation. She has been a storyteller for more than twenty years; as a journalist, broadcaster, poet, and playwright. She is the host of CBC Radio One’s Unreserved . Her debut poetry collection this is a small northern town shared her reflections of growing up in a racially divided place. It won the 2009 Aqua Books Lansdowne Prize for Poetry. Her second book, calling down the sky, is a collaboration with her mother who was forced to attend Indian Residential School. Her first play with the Royal MTC’s Pimootayowin Creators Circle was called The Secret to Good Tea and was produced for their mainstage in their 2022/23 season. It will be produced for the 2025/26 season with the National Arts Centre and the Grand Theatre in London, Ontario.

Karyn Pugliese

An award-winning journalist, writer and host with more than 20 years of experience, she has spent her career telling stories and leading conversations about Indigenous peoples, politics and life in Canada. She has worked in senior editorial roles at APTN, CBC and Canada’s National Observer, while remaining most at home interviewing people, asking questions and finding the stories that connect us.

Today, she covers Parliament, writes, podcasts and hosts conversations about the people and ideas shaping the country. She also speaks regularly across North America, including at IRE, NAJA, the United Nations, CJF J-Talks and journalism schools.

She is a proud citizen of the Pikwàkanagàn First Nation, of mixed Algonquin and Italian descent. When she’s not engaged in acts of journalism, she can usually be found in a canoe, behind a camera, with a book—or eating frybread.

Thanking the Women Entrepreneurs of the Gatineau Hills

Our heartfelt thanks go out to the extraordinary women entrepreneurs of the Gatineau Hills for their generous support of Women Talking – Identity, Belonging & the Stories That Shape Us. Their support makes this event possible, and it reflects the heart of our region: women lifting one another up, building community, and shaping a future rooted in connection and understanding.

Salon du Livre de l'Outaouais of Perfect Books Ottawa offers an excellent selection of books by 2026 Writers Fête authors. Meet the authors and have your books signed!

$30.00 Purchase Now - 151 Places Left