Becoming a Matriarch by Helen Knott

Helen Knott's bestselling debut memoir, In My Own Moccasins, wowed reviewers, award juries, and readers alike with its profoundly honest and moving account of addiction, intergenerational trauma, resilience, and survival. Now, with her highly anticipated second book, Knott exceeds the highest of expectations with a chronicle of grief, love, and legacy. Having lost both her mom and grandmother in just over six months, forced to navigate the fine lines between matriarchy, martyrdom, and codependency, Knott realizes she must let go, not just of them, but of who she thought she was.

Woven into the pages are themes of mourning, sobriety through loss, and generational dreaming. Becoming a Matriarch is charted with poetic insights, sass, humour, and heart, taking the reader over the rivers and mountains of Dane Zaa territory in Northeastern British Columbia, along the cobbled streets of Antigua, Guatemala, and straight to the heart of what matriarchy truly means. This is a journey through pain, on the way to becoming.

(From Knopf Canada)

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Helen Knottis a Dane Zaa, Nehiyaw, Mtis, and mixed Euro-descent writerfrom Prophet River First Nations. She is a 2019RBC Taylor Prize Emerging author and her memoir,My Own Moccasins,is an international bestseller and won theSaskatchewan Book Award for Indigenous Peoples' Publishing.

Interviews with Helen Knott

The Next Chapter15:50Helen Knott on In My Own Moccasins

Helen Knott on In My Own Moccasins: A Memoir of Resilience, which she calls "a book of healing."

Unreserved11:04Return to tradition: How author Helen Knott used writing and ceremony to overcome trauma

In My Own Moccasins: A Memoir of Resilience tells the story of how Helen Knott overcame addiction and trauma, and how writing became instrumental to her healing.