Michelle Good in Conversation

Kingston WritersFest is pleased to present the second in our special bi-weekly series of pre-festival events. Join author and lawyer Michelle Good as she speaks with author and journalist Waub Rice about her novel Five Little Indians, the lasting impact of the residential school system, and how survivors work to come to terms with their past and, ultimately, find a way forward. “My mother is a residential school survivor, as is my grandmother and cousins,” says Michelle.” I started writing this story in the 1990s. I think the seed really took shape really came to me when I was practicing law and I was representing survivors of residential schools. I was realizing just how much Canadians or Canada at large doesn’t understand the impact of how these individuals suffered because of their attendance at these schools.”

Five Little Indians is a “wonderful, heart-wrenching and heartwarming” (The Vancouver Sun) novel that follows five children taken from their families when they are very small and sent to a remote, church-run residential school. Kenny, Lucy, Clara, Howie, and Maisie are barely out of childhood when they are finally released after years of detention. Alone and without any skills, support, or families, the teens find their way to the seedy and foreign world of Downtown Eastside Vancouver, where they cling together, striving to find a place of safety and belonging in a world that doesn’t want them.

Thank you to  for their support of this presentation.

Kingston WritersFest Virtual Platform
Wednesday, August 5
7:00 – 8:00 pm ET

Attendance capacity is limited. To secure your spot in the virtual audience, click the link:

Donations gratefully accepted

Books are available for sale at our official festival bookseller, Novel Idea Books. Order online or visit them in store Monday-Friday 9:30 am-9:00 pm, Saturday 9:30 am – 6:00 pm, Sunday 10:30 am – 5:00 pm.

About the Author

Michelle Good is a writer of Cree ancestry and a member of the Red Pheasant Cree Nation in Saskatchewan. She obtained her law degree after three decades of working with indigenous communities and organizations. She earned her MFA in Creative Writing at UBC, while still practising law, and won the HarperCollins/UBC Prize in 2018. Her poems, short stories and essays have been published in magazines and anthologies across Canada. Michelle Good lives and writes in south central British Columbia.

About the Interviewer

Waubgeshig Rice is an author and journalist originally from Wasauksing First Nation. His first short story collection, Midnight Sweatlodge, was inspired by his experiences growing up in an Anishinaabe community, and won an Independent Publishers Book Award in 2012. His debut novel, Legacy, followed in 2014. A French translation was published in 2017. His latest novel, Moon of the Crusted Snow, was released in October 2018 and became a national bestseller.